


From one heaven to the next

by WafflesAreMyPassion



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angels and Demons, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Ghost!Bang chan, Gods, Halfgod!Changbin, Jisung has attitude, Jisung hates everything, Jisung hates his uncle, Jisung wants to die, Lovegod!Felix, M/M, Mathteacher!Namjoon, Mild Language, Minho is bad at feelings, Multi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Original Character(s), Protectiv Hyunjin, Seo Changbin is Whipped, Shapeshifter!Hyunjin, Shapeshifter!Jeongin, Slight Mention of Blood, Strangers to Lovers, Suicidal Thoughts, Timetraveler!Seungmin, Vampire!Minho, but not really, cook!Jin, cuz he miss his parents, human!jisung, i think, sad boys here we go!!!, there is a lot of plot, they're young you can't blame them, what do you expect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 42,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27587483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WafflesAreMyPassion/pseuds/WafflesAreMyPassion
Summary: Jisung died with his parents, he really was dead. He even went to the afterlife. But, for some reason, he was sitting in the backseat of a car that his uncle had borrowed from a friend. A narrow road filled with large potholes shaking the whole car as they made their way to Jisung's new school, where he would not only be studying at but living as well. In Scotland. Scotland! Jisung had never believed in the supernatural but when the Headmistress Alldyn told him to carry around garlic in his pockets and later informs him that he will be attending class with a vampire named Minho the line between what is real and fantasy blurs together.Jisung just wants to return to his parents, he wasn't supposed to be alive and he knew that. So why was he?Basically: A supernatural boarding school where Jisung meets Minho, a vampire, Felix, who everyone seemed to be in love with and Changbin who finds Jisung fascinating. Along with Hyunjin and Jeongin who are smitten by each other. Also, Seungmin is a big flirt but Jisung ain't into that. Plus Bangchan the ghost.mental health is getting worse but will try keep on writing, so updates will be slowed down for the time being.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin
Comments: 24
Kudos: 90





	1. The Gates To a Ethereal Life

**Author's Note:**

> Updates every other week on either Sunday or Monday. 
> 
> Will put up trigger warnings on chapters that might be triggering to certain people, just to be on the safe side.  
> And if you really don't want to read the chapter with possibal triggers, fret not, I will post a short summary in the notes of said chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prologue here we go!

One second they were sitting in the car, listening to the radio and singing along, Alive.

The next? Jisung could only remember tires screeching against pavement before the car flipped over, violently tossing his body around like a rag doll as pain shot through his body and Jisung had let his consciousness fade away.

Calmness swept over him and he took a deep breath, the air filling his lungs cool and refreshing. The wind brushed against his cheeks and Jisung picked up the scent of flowers, so he slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the bright light. He was greeted by a beautiful forest filled with flowers of every possible color. He hadn’t even realized that he was sitting, the green grass swaying to the wind. He sat there for a while, the sight making him speechless. 

Jisung looked down at himself, he was wearing his favorite t-shirt, the one with the little squirrel embroidered onto the small pocket. He couldn’t help but smile as he let his eyes land on the forest again. He hastily got to his feet when he saw two figures standing by one of the trees, and Jisung had never felt as happy as he did this moment. 

He pushed away with his foot and ran, ran as he had never run before.

His smile turned into laughter as he leapt into his father’s open arms, he swung him around and they all laughed. When Jisung was back at the ground he threw himself into his mother’s arms and she laughed, “oh my little baby,” she pulled his father into the hug and they stayed like that for a while. 

Jisung’s heart held nothing but love and he let out a breath of relief. He had an idea of what might have happened but he didn’t mind. He was with his family and that was all he could ever ask for.

Holding hands they walked through the forest and its many flowers, the trees stretched above, creating a passage and they followed it, not really sure why but Jisung felt it like this passage was made just for them.

Jisung didn’t try to conceal his joy, swinging his arms as he laughed. He couldn’t imagine a life where he would have to live on without his parents, so he was happy, happy that he’s able to stay by their side.

At the end of the passage stood a strange-looking figure and as they got closer Jisung’s mind went blank. The body was that of a normal man, but its head was that of a canine, fur pitch black. Looking almost godlike with its headpiece made out of gold. In one hand he held a staff, the top dipped in gold, in the other something similar to a cross but the top part bent like the head of a sewing needle. 

The creature greeted them with a slow nod of its head and they returned the gesture with a small bow. Their interaction was short because immediately after they had raised from the bow the man took a step aside and extended his arm, allowing them to pass. 

Jisung’s parents didn’t hesitate for a second and continued forward, their hands pulling on Jisung urging him to follow. Jisung took one quick glance at the man before giving in to the pull of his parent's. The man nodded one last time before turning and walking into the forest. 

And right then Jisung realised that the man that had stood before them. The man who was now disappearing in between the trees was Anubis, the God of death.

Jisung’s mind began to process what he’s just seen, _was that just…? Like the actual Anubis? No that's not possible… right?_

They walked but Jisung was too hung up on who they had met, only now noticing that the cool feeling under his bare feet was because of the white stone they seemed to have stepped onto.

The stone glistened like diamonds and Jisung wanted to bend down and touch it, but his attention was quickly caught by something else, up ahead. 

“Woah…” He looked over at his mother walking beside him, she was smiling and Jisung guessed his father was too.

Jisung, bursting with joy and excitement, pulled both his parents by their connected hands and picked up the pace, almost going into a full sprint as they got closer.

Jisung knew he was probably smiling like a fool but how could he not? What stood before them was probably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his seventeen years of life. 

What stood in front of them was a large gate made out of silver and walls, each side glistened like the stone they walked. It was incredible and Jisung took in its beauty. Eyes following the endless wall as it stretched to where the blue sky met the ground. Realization hit and Jisung felt a smile spread across his lips. 

_This is heaven, isn’t it?_ Jisung let that thought wander around his mind as they got closer to the gate, “heaven huh, that doesn’t sound too bad.”

“I wholeheartedly agree” and suddenly there stood a woman, Jisung must have either not seen the white podium next to the grand gate or it had appeared out of nowhere. 

In any case, behind the podium stood a woman. Her dark skin had a golden undertone and stood out in contrast to her large white wings. The feathers glistened at even the slightest movement. She wore a white long dress, sewn in a simple design that hung to her loosely and when the wind blew the fabric danced along her body. She was angelic and that was probably exactly what she was, an angle.

Still holding hands, they went up to the podium and stood before the woman, she smiled at them and Jisung was hit with a sense of tranquility. 

“Welcome, welcome. Would you look at that, the whole family in one go, well, let me just say,” she extended her right hand and Jisung’s mother let go of his hand so that she could shake the hand. “It is nice to have you here with us,” she turned to his father and shook his as well, “welcome.”

Lastly, she looked at Jisung who stood in the middle. With a gentle smile she held out her hand, “welcome Jisung, all is well I hope?” She held onto his hand for a second before giving it a small pat with her other hand. Jisung nodded and she let go of his hand. 

“My name is Felice, I’m delighted to see you all three of you made it past your judgment,” she bent down behind the podium and Jisung looked over at the large gate. 

Being this close to the gate got Jisung to notice the symbols scattered all over the gate, but also the wall itself. He recognized some while others looked he had no idea what they meant or what language they belonged to. He even saw some Korean but had no time to read it, the woman had stood back up and was blocking his view. 

“Here it is,” she held up the scroll in triumph before opening it and laying it out on the podium. She then spread out one wing and looked up towards it. She reached up with her hand and let it go over the white feathers before stopping at one. Jisung winced when Felice plucked the feather from her wing and brought it down to the parchment paper. 

Jisung could tell she was reading from the way her eyes skimmed over the laid out scroll, she tapped feather’s tip onto the paper before giving them a quick glance. 

“Ah, I see,” she nodded as if agreeing with herself, “car crashes, terrible business, and at that velocity? No wonder,” Jisung couldn’t tell whether she was talking to herself or them as she wrote something down, the feather making small scratching sounds as it worked across the parchment and with one last stroke she looked back at the three. 

She carefully swung the feather up and out of her hand. Jisung’s mouth opened in surprise when it quickly dissolved into nothing.

“From what I can see, all is in order,” she rolled up the scroll and put it behind the podium, “well then.” 

Without a sound, the grand gate began to open and Jisung's whole body grew warm at the sight. He looked over at Felice, she was smiling and Jisung couldn’t help but smile as well. 

The three of them continued inside, but just before the gate closed Jisung let go of his parents' hands and swung around to waved at Felice. She saw him and barked out a laugh as she waved back. 

They were met by greenery everywhere and people of every ethnicity. There were small houses placed in no particular pattern. It reminded Jisung of the countryside, the complete opposite to the loud and suffocating cities. 

Patches of tiny flowers scattered all over the green grass had Jisung feeling excited, he wanted to go and explore, discover this new place. He could see a lake far off in the distance. 

_Maybe I’ll go for a swim later?_ He smiled to himself but was suddenly brought from his thoughts when something went up against his right leg. He flinched in surprise and looked down. A black ball of fur was looking back at him with large yellow eyes.

“A cat?” He bent down and held out his hand, allowing the cat to get a whiff of his scent before trying to pet it. It seemed to not mind Jisung’s hand, on the contrary, it seemed to enjoy it, leaning further into his touch. Jisung took a leap of faith and picked up the animal and held it in his arms. Thankfully it seemed to have taken a liking to Jisung, even purring as he continued to pet it.

“Ah, hello!” A man similar in age to Jisung’s parents walked up to them, he wore a buttoned-up shirt, the two at the top undone and grey loosely fitted pants. He, just like Felice, seemed kind and gentle, taking them all in hand as he spoke, “welcome! My name is Leif and Felice told me to show you arou-” he cut himself off as he got to Jisung, whose hands and arms were already occupied by something else. Leif looked at Jisung before glancing down at the black cat.

“Would you look at that,” he smiled, “what a rare sight,” the man emitted a chuckle. “I haven’t seen Holly _this_ willing to cuddle since, well... For as long as I can remember.”

Jisung looked at the cat in his arms, she watched him with big eyes. “Holly huh,” he felt pride grow in his chest. _So she’s not like this with everyone? Aww so cute!_ He was smiling like a fool as he turned to his mother but she just looked at him with worry settling between her brow. Jisung turned to his father who wore a similar expression.

“Mom? What is, ah-!” Suddenly Holly hissed at him, her claws dug into his forearm which made him drop her from his arms. He looked down at the cat, she seemed to have been startled by something. Jisung brought his forearm up to eye level to have a look at the aftermath. 

Instead of being met by red claw marks, he saw his arm growing transparent. He quickly looked down at his other arm, it too was beginning to disappear. In a panic he looked between his parents, they had taken on an expression of sheer horror, even Leif looked at him with worry. 

“Mom! Dad! What-what’s happening to me?” He looked at his hands, turning them as they grew more and more transparent. 

His father had a panicked look as he tried to grab onto one of Jisung’s hands, it went right through, he tried again, his mother also tried, but it was no use. Leif looked terrified as he put one hand over his mouth.

Jisung screamed as excruciating pain shot through his heart. He would have toppled over if not for the sudden force pulling him backwards. He tried to fight against it by leaning forward and grabbing onto whatever he could find, but his hands just went right through. 

There came another pull to his heart and this time it held more force, Jisung couldn’t fight it as it dragged him along the grass. He desperately clawed for something to hold onto as his parents chased after him. Jisung let out a painful scream as he struggled against the force.

The gates made no sound as they opened and Jisung heard his mother scream out in agony when he was pulled through the gates.

The last thing Jisung saw was Felice, she looked at him in utter terror, he felt a tear run down his cheek and then, he was gone, brought back to life, his heaven crashing down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, JISUNG IM SORRY 
> 
> Second... well hope ya liked it?
> 
> Okay that's all, bye!
> 
> (kudos and feedback would be great)


	2. Fowle’s boarding school for the gifted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> but he didn’t return the hug. He didn’t want to hug his uncle. It just didn’t feel right and if Jisung was to be honest, he probably wouldn’t be able to bring himself to miss the man. He felt betrayed by his uncle and he knew he had a right to be angry at the man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter one here we go! I hope you will love it as much as I do.
> 
> Just a quick side note, English is not my native language, Swedish is. I'm not saying that as an excuse for my bad writing I promise hehe... 
> 
> Okay, now that that's out of the way, enjoy~

The tall pine trees blocked whatever sunlight the evening had to offer and the few rays of sunshine that did make it through made no difference, seeing as the forest became thicker and thicker the further in they drove. The narrow road was filled with large potholes, causing the car to jump every now and then. Jisung turned on the screen on his phone to check the time.

_17:27_ read the bright screen before he turned it off again, tossing it on the seat beside him. 

He turned his gaze out the window and watched as the trees pass by. The further in they drove the thicker the forest became and Jisung dreaded for when they would arrive.

The flight alone had been exhausting, having to fly for seventeen hours and landing once in between, what was even worse was his uncle, driving at a painfully slow speed. He was worried about damaging the car since it didn't belong to them; borrowed from one of his _old friends_.

The woman, when they arrived to get the car, seemed incredibly fascinated by Jisung, so much in fact that she even went as far as offering him to stay at her place if the school became “too much.” Jisung found himself cringing at the memory of when the woman had gone up to him and hugged him for an awkwardly long time, though he had been taken by surprise by how strong the women’s hold on him was.

Suddenly they hit a large pothole causing the whole car to shake. Jisung took out one earbud when his uncle spoke from over his shoulder.

“Sorry,” he said, still keeping his one eye on the road, “missed that one.” 

Jisung didn’t respond but instead closed his eyes as he returned the earbud to his ear, focusing on the music. He had a lot on his mind and he needed time gather his thoughts before they were to arrive or else he'd lose mind.

Jisung let his body rock with the car's movements on the uneven road as if dancing along. He thought of himself, his parents, his uncle, but most of all, where they were headed. He opened his eyes and looked out the window. He tried to look on the bright side of things, but in this case, there weren't one. Only hurt and in no shape or form a positive outcome.

His uncle, who was driving, hadn’t even the faintest idea of how much pain he had and continues to cause Jisung, ever since that morning when he had woken up in the hospital's white room and realized he was alive again, heart beating in his chest. 

But it hadn’t felt right, he hadn’t felt like _himself._

That was the moment Jisung had slowly begun to understand what true heartache felt like, and he had a feeling only more hurt awaited him.

He hadn’t been far off with that thought, seeing as this was the worst outcome he could ever imagine.

Feelings of hurt and anger mixed into a knot in his stomach, frustration rose and he felt tears behind his eyes. To prevent his uncle from catching him in his vulnerable state he lowered his gaze from the window. He held onto his knees in an attempt to ground himself as he thought of his uncle who had told him, three months after the accident, that he would not only attending but also _living_ at this international school. And while the language barrier wasn't that big of a deal since Jisung would consider himself both fluent in speech _and_ writing. What Jisung considered a problem was for the fact that the school was in Scotland. Fucking _Scotland_.

He closed his eyes and repeating in his mind, _i_ _t’s all right, I’ll get through this, it’s going to be okay, I just have to be strong, I have to be-_

His thoughts were suddenly disrupted by the sound of a car door getting shut, followed by a tap on his window. _Oh no, no, no-_

“Jisung? We’re here.” His uncle’s voice sounded a bit muffled from where he stood behind the car window but all the same, it was his voice and Jisung had to exit the car, sooner or later. 

He sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt, took his phone in his right hand as he opened the car door with his left, and climbed out. He let his hand stay on the door as he took in his surroundings. 

The first thing he noticed was that the narrow road ended here, meaning the school was even further in, a small gravel path leading to what Jisung could only assume would be the school.

The second thing he noticed was the trees, which he had already seen, but only from the limited view of the car window. He could now let his eyes climb all the way up to their crowns which must have been at least twenty meters tall, some probably reaching even taller.

Jisung wasn’t going to lie, the trees were kind of beautiful, but that was also all. He didn’t feel excited or nervous about changing schools. No, it was the opposite, he felt angry. Angry at his uncle for making him go even when he had protested, telling him that he didn’t want to. 

But turns out, Jisung had no say in the matter, and now he was here. 

His hand which was still on the open door slammed it shut and Jisung must have used too much force because his uncle flinched from where he stood hunched over by the now open trunk. 

“Hey!” he said as he stood back up and walked over to Jisung’s car door, "don't slam the door like that."

“I didn’t do it on _purpose_ ,” he scowled as he walked over to the trunk to gather his things, which were only one large black duffle bag, a grey backpack and his pillow.

While his uncle was inspecting the door Jisung strapped the backpack onto his back, hung the duffle bag over his right shoulder and held his pillow under his right arm. As he was just about to close the trunk his uncle spoke, making Jisung stop.

“You might not have broken it but be a bit more careful next time will you?” 

_There won’t be a next time,_ Jisung thought, feeling a frown but let go of the tension in his brow as his uncle walked up beside him.

His uncle walked up to him and held the trunk open as he took out something and turned towards Jisung, “don’t forget your jacket, heard it can get pretty cold here in Scotlan-”

Jisung just ignored the man holding his jacket as he turned around and began to walk towards the path leading away.

Jisung heard the trunk slam shut and quick footsteps coming up from behind, “take it, just in case,” Jisung felt his nose scrunch at the sight of his jacket. His uncle might need his brown and yellow checkered scarf and brown autumn jacket, but Jisung had not needed to wear his jacket over the past three months, so he stuffed it in between the straps of his duffle bag sticking to only wear his hoodie. 

His uncle sighed at the sight and walked beside him in total silence.

_Awkward…_

In an attempt to break the silence his uncle tried to make some small talk and Jisung was not in the mood for talking about “the _weather”_ so he slowed his pace, allowing himself to slip a bit behind. 

His uncle noticed him slipping behind and turned to face his nephew, “are the bags too heavy? Want me to take one for you?” He said as he waited for Jisung to catch up.

“No, they feel like nothing,” he answered, making sure he stressed the word _nothing_ when he looked over at his uncle whose mouth remained shut as he continued to walk.

Jisung looked down at the ground which was a mixture of dirt, stones, fallen tree branches and a lot of pinecones laying about. He quickly found one and kicked it, far. Then another one, and another one. He did this the whole way, sometimes kicking the same one until it went too far and he had to find a new target. The sound of gravel made as he kicked the pinecones was a nice one, stones colliding with each other with a clattering sound. 

Distracted as he was kicking the pinecones Jisung failed to notice the one-meter tall stone wall until it was too late and one of the pinecones he had kicked hit the wall and bounced off, almost hitting his Uncle in the process. Jisung winced at the man who looked at him with a surprised expression and Jisung cursed inwardly to himself

Jisung walked up to where the pinecone had bounced off the stone wall, giving it a swift look over to make sure he hadn’t caused any damage. He sighed when he noticed that some of the moss covering one of the stones had parts of it looking looser than the others. _Damn it,_ he thought.

He glanced over to see if his uncle had noticed him, luckily he hadn’t, he stood by an iron gate and Jisung realized the stone wall functioned as some kind of fence. 

The stone wall had an iron gate which his uncle had gone up to and was now struggling to get it open. Jisung walked over to his uncle, leaving his place where he had stood by one of the stones.

“Here, I’ll do it,” Jisung said as he gripped the rusty iron gate with his left hand while his uncle took a step back. Jisung slightly gave it a push and it made a sound similar to the one of a fork scraping across porcelain and he cringed, letting the gate swing open and hit the other side, hard. Some of the rust had stuck to the palm of his hand so he wiped it off on his pants as he continued in, his uncle not far behind. 

Again, they walked in silence. Only the sound of their shoes hitting the pavement slabs leading up to the school’s entrance could be heard. Jisung didn’t feel like talking to his uncle and so, he made sure to get the message across by slipping a bit behind, creating some distance. 

It had gone pretty dark now, he looked up to the sky before grabbing his phone and turning on the screen. 

“18:48” he read to himself. He stopped walking so he could tuck his phone back into his jeans pocket while letting out a sigh. As he exhaled Jisung watched his breath as it slowly disappeared into nothing. He knew it was cold, the brown and yellow checkered scarf around his uncle’s neck served as a reminder. But that was the thing. Jisung was only wearing a gray plain hoodie and black jeans but oddly enough the cold didn’t seem to bother him anymore. At least not since he got back.

He let out another long exhale, watching his steamy breath disappear into nothing.

“God, would you stop staring!” Startled by the sudden shout Jisung grabbed onto the strap of the duffle bag with both his hands, his pillow squeezed in between his arm as he looked around, searching for who had shouted. His eyes landed on two boys watching him from the shadows of the building.

_Great,_ he thought, _more unwanted attention_. 

Along with the ability to withstand extremely low temperatures and his unnatural increase in strength, Jisung’s whole presence had changed, stealing glances from almost everyone he passed. People calling him "attractive" and "beautiful" became the new normal for him.

What was odd about the whole "new look" was that Jisung had been told he had undergone several surgeries to patch his face back together. But when he had looked into the mirror at the hospital his reflection showed no scars. If anything he seemed even more attractive than he had prior to the accident. Even the doctors had been taken aback by how beautiful he’d become, going as far as calling it a miracle. Jisung only saw it as a curse. His uncle had apparently reached out to another of his _old friends_ who was one of Korea's most skilled plastic surgeons. His uncle had called it “fate” while Jisung called it “bullshit”

The boys seemed to have noticed that Jisung was staring back at them because one of them looked down in embarrassment whilst the other boy smacked him on the arm. 

“I was just…” said the shorter boy in an almost inaudible whisper but was ignored. Taking a step forward, the taller one left the shadows and Jisung was sure he saw the guy puff up his chest like he was attempting to intimidate. But why that was necessary, Jisung had no idea.

The lack of light made it hard for Jisung to make out their facial details, but he was pretty sure the taller one had blond hair, tied into a loose ponytail in the back. If Jisung squinted his eyes he could see that the smaller boy had short dark hair covering his forehead. 

Suddenly, the taller boy stepped in front of his companion. His body facing Jisung as he turned his head over his shoulder and spoke, not caring to lower his voice.

“Lucky for you it’s not completely dark yet,” he said to the boy standing behind him but then turned and nodded in Jisung’s direction. “Or maybe lucky for _him_.” His eyes met Jisungs and for a brief moment, Jisung was sure he saw them glow, the hue similar to that of honey.

“Jisung? Something the matter?” He glanced over at his Uncle who was now holding the door, his face illuminated by the light escaping the building.

Jisung returned his attention back to the boys, but to his surprise, they were already gone.

Jisung adjusted the strap on his shoulder and walked over to the door. He said a quick “nothing” to his uncle and entered the building.

The hall was empty, which wasn’t a surprise, seeing as it was closing in to be 19:00 and the students were most likely in their dorms. 

They walked forward and up the white marble steps leading to a landing. The stairs continued up on both sides and Jisung chose the left one and so did his uncle. 

If Jisung were to be honest, it _did_ look like a good school, apart from the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere, he could see himself liking the school were the circumstances a bit different. 

While his uncle continued up towards the next floor Jisung came to a halt. To his right and down the corridor, Jisung saw something move. He took a few steps towards the direction, the empty corridor becoming almost eerie with its limited light. 

Suddenly a “ _meow”_ echoed from one of the classrooms further down the corridors and Jisung, surprised to hear such a familiar sound here of all places, pressed his pillow closer to his chest as comfort. 

Another “ _meow_ ” echoed through the corridor and then, from one of the classrooms further down, came out a cat.

Jisung found himself only able to stare at the animal, its dark spots and light grey fur had a tint of ochre when hit just right by the dim ceiling light.

_This school has a cat? An actual cat?_ he thought as the cat casually walked up to him, clearly accustomed to the company of humans. He felt its soft fur through his jeans. He crouched down and pet it, his hand trailing all the way to the tip of the tail. 

Suddenly the cat was running away in the same direction it had come and Jisung couldn’t help but feel a little hurt by the sudden change in opinion towards him. He got up from his crouching position, adjusted his backpack and turned around. His uncle must have noticed that Jisung had stayed behind on the second floor and had come down to get him. 

Jisung felt a smug smile wanting to make its appearance as he thought, _even the cat knows what an unfriendly face looks like._ He let the smile falter when his uncle looked at him and spoke, “Jisung, this is the wrong floor, the headmistress is on the third, remember?” His uncle tilted his head and Jisung felt a bit offended that his uncle thought he had forgotten. Of course, he knew that they were meeting the headmistress on the third floor, his uncle had told him at least ten times during the car drive alone, so how could he _not_ remember?

“Yeah, yeah. I know, I was just…” he stopped himself from mentioning the cat and decided to give a half-lie half-truth kind of answer, “...looking at something.” He brushed off the cat hair that had stuck to his left hand on the back of his jeans and walked over to his uncle. 

“Let’s just go,” Jisung said as he began to climb the white marble. 

… 

The staircase to their right continued up to the fourth floor. But they were to be meeting the Headmistress, so they turned left and walked down the corridor. Jisung saw that the left side opened up a bit further down, probably leading to more classrooms. 

Jisung felt anxiety creep up his back and in an attempt to distract himself he decided to count the windows to his right. He moved the pillow from where it was held under his right arm to his left so that he could extend his arm and trace the windowsills as they walked.

_One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six… Seven… Seven…_

There were seven windows he noted with a slight nod. He turned to his uncle, but he seemed to have stopped at something. 

Feeling that his inner panic was somewhat under more control he decided to take the initiative and walked past his uncle, his hand still in contact with the wall to his right. 

What the dim light had failed to illuminate finally came into view and before them stood a large ebony double door. Jisung withdrew his hand from the wall and took in the beautiful door. He stepped a bit closer and could now see that the wood had some kind of image carved into it but what it was, he had no clue. Without realizing what he was doing Jisung reached out to the door, his hand moving on its own as it traced over the carvings.

His fingers tingle at the touch, his instincts sending warning signals that he could get a splinter if not careful. Of course, he ignored this, occupied by the design of the door. He couldn’t quite see what the design was depicting so he let his fingertips travel up the carvings, relying on what information he could gather from touch alone.

The lines stretched up and then branched out, like a tree. The wood felt nice to the touch, Jisung followed one of the branches and it led him to some kind of oval figure. He tried to figure out what it could be but he had no idea. 

Suddenly his exploration of the door came to an end. The silver handles turned down and the latch responded with a _click_ as the right door opened, the left one stayed shut.

Jisung almost tripped over his feet when he took a quick step back. He let his eyes stay fixed on his shoes in embarrassment. 

“Careful,” the voice was a bit low and had some roughness to it but it clearly belonged to a woman. Jisung dared a look. 

What first caught Jisungs eye was the height of the woman, she was taller than him, by a lot. If Jisung had to guess, maybe around one hundred and eighty centimetres. But what struck Jisung as odd was her choice of clothing, it was incredibly old fashion looking like something from the victorian era.

The blouse she wore was tucked down into her high waisted navy blue shirt, the fabric almost reaching down to the floor, the blouse collar was sewn in a stand-up style, ruffles framing the lace going down to about the middle of her sternum. The sleeves were puffy and loose, cuffed with three silver buttons at the wrist. 

Her hair was set up in a neat bun in the back with a few strands framing her face, despite having almost pure white hair she looked young, eyes full of life as they met Jisungs. He squeezed his pillow closer and the woman must have picked up on the gesture. She tilted her head to the side and gave Jisung a gentle smile as she held out her hand and spoke. “Hello, you must be Han Jisung,” he accepted her hand and forced himself to form a reply. “Hello,” was all he could voice. 

She nodded as she let go of his hand and paused, looking over at his uncle. Jisung had totally forgotten about the man standing next to him.

The woman held out her hand and greeted his uncle, “and you must be his uncle, nice to finally meet you” her voice was no longer gentle, speaking through gritted teeth. The only thing Jisung’s uncle could do was nod, “ah- yes, nice to meet you.” 

Jisung’s eyes widened when he saw the woman not trying to hide her disgust with his uncle when she wiped off her hand on her skirt. She clearly disliked the man and made it shown with her actions. 

She turned to Jisung, her gentle expression had returned and gestured toward her office. “Please, come in,” she said as she held up the door, inviting them in. Jisung did as she said and walked into the office, his uncle close behind.

She turned on the lights and motioned towards two chairs in front of a wooden desk, “have a seat.” The woman walked behind the desk and seated herself down. 

Jisung decided on the right chair as he took off his backpack and put it beside the chair along with the duffle bag and seated himself. His arms resting on the pillow in his lap. 

The woman waited for Jisung to look comfortable until she spoke. 

“Welcome Jisung,” she smiled. “My name is Alldyn Fowle, I am the founder and headmistress of this school,” Jisung nodded and she continued. “I assume your uncle has informed you about what this is all about?” Jisung’s uncle was about to answer but was stopped by a raised hand. She wasn’t asking his uncle but him. 

“Yes, I have… I have been informed.” But, that was a lie, his uncle hadn't told him anything. Jisung let out a small sigh and let his gaze sink to the floor, pressing himself closer into the cushion of the chair and quietly hugged his own pillow. Reality slowly sinking in and Jisung felt defeated. 

The headmistress must have noticed the change in posture because she turned to his uncle sitting in the other chair and began speaking to him instead, giving Jisung some space to collect himself. 

Jisung looked around the room, looking for something else to think about. 

The office was rather spacious and held lots of things. Jisung let his eyes wander around and noted that the headmistress's odd choice of clothes carried over to her choice of decor. A lot of wood and brown colors, giving it an old fashion look. The curtains were of a deep blue and almost touched the floor.

Jisung continued his look around until his eyes landed on a large dark grandfather clock standing down by the corner to his right, a door beside it had a sign that read _private._ Jisung returned his eyes to the clock, its finial made to look like an owl was incredibly detailed, almost life-like in its sleeping position. 

It had stuck out to Jisung because its color was different from the rest of the clock. Jisung looked over at the double door he and his uncle had entered through and noticed the ebony double door and finial was of the same wood. 

“...sung?” The headmistress called his name and Jisung swung his head around.

“Y-yes?” he cursed himself for not keeping up with their conversation. He had let his mind wander, forgetting where he was.

“I want to ask you something and please answer honestly,” she waited for Jisung to nod and then continued. She placed her elbowed onto the wooden desk and leaned forward, intertwined her fingers and spoke with a serious expression.

“Do you know what _kind_ of school this is?” The roughness in her voice was more noticeable this time, indicating that what she was asking was of a serious matter.

He frowned at her question. _What the hell does that even mean? It’s just a boarding school?_ He nodded to himself before his eyes widened. Oh _shit, is this some kind of detention school or something? Is uncle trying to get rid of me?_

Panic rose and he couldn't keep up with his own thoughts as they spiral out of control. He looked down, his eyes roamed around the floor as he tried to process the situation. 

“Ahem,” came from the woman and Jisung lifted his eyes, meeting the woman’s probing gaze. She then looked over at his uncle, took a deep breath and spoke. “I see…” She shot the man a glare. “So I take it that you have not informed your nephew?” She didn’t give the man time to answer, “well then.” The sound of a drawer being pulled open made Jisung flinch in his chair and in her hand the woman held a thin chain, a single silver cross hanging from it. “You will need to wear this,” she extended her hand, the cross dangling at from the movement and Jisung hesitated, flashes of images filling his mind. 

_His mom, him dad. The large gate and all its symbols, one of them, a cross._

Jisung's heart sank when he remembers his parents faces as he was dragged out through the gate. He shook his head, “I’m sorry but… but I can’t wear that.” It would bring him too much heartache, reminding him every time he’d look down. 

Jisung watched the woman sigh as she reopened the drawer and returned the necklace, “I guess we could pass by the school cafeteria before I show you to your dorm.” 

_The cafeteria?_ Jisung gave her a confused look but she didn't seem to catch it, or she did and just decided to ignore him. 

“Well then, Jisung,” she rose from her desk, “it is time for you to bid your uncle farewell.” With a kind smile, she nodded towards the man who was already out of his chair and walking over to Jisung. He quickly moved his pillow from his lap and stood, but he didn’t return the hug. He didn’t want to hug his uncle. It just didn’t feel right and if Jisung was to be honest, he probably wouldn’t be able to bring himself to miss the man. He felt betrayed by his uncle and he knew he had a right to be angry at the man.

Jisung pulled away from the embrace but his uncle caught him by the shoulders, “I promise to call, alright?” His uncle gave him a hesitant smile, probably wanting some kind of reaction.

Feeling frustrated with his uncle, Jisung settled for a short "okay" and shrugged, trying to get his uncle's hands off him. That didn’t work so Jisung looked over at the headmistress. She was watching in amusement at first but must have caught on to Jisung’s awkwardness and intervened by putting one hand on her chest, clearing her throat. She glanced over at the grandfather clock pretending to be surprised by the time. 

“It’s going to get dark soon and if I’m not mistaken it’s a pretty long drive through the forest, I suggest you get going before it gets too dark to navigate the narrow roads,” she spoke with authority, it wasn’t a mere suggestion, she was telling his uncle to leave. 

Finally, the hand on his shoulders were gone and Jisung let a relieved sigh escape his lungs. 

“Okay then,” his uncle exhaled and looked over at the headmistress. “Thank you, Ms Fowle, for this,” he turned back to Jisung, “don’t cause any trouble, okay?” Jisung just nodded and took a step back. 

“Well then… Bye Jisung,” he raised his hand and gave half a wave and the least Jisung could do was to return the gesture. So he did, raising his hand he looked at his uncle and Jisung saw a hint of relief in his eyes before stepping out of the office. Closing the dark double door behind him with a _click._ And then he was gone. 

Jisung hadn’t realized his shoulders had been up to his ears until he exhaled, letting them sink down. The headmaster looked at him and smiled. 

“Okay, Jisung, you can leave your bags in my office for now. Our first priority is to go down to the school cafeteria and fetch you some garlic.” 

_Garlic? Did I hear her corre-_

Jisung’s thoughts were interrupted by the headmistress's eyes widening in realization, “may I call you Jisung or do you prefer Han?” She tilted her head, the difference in height made Jisung feel inferior and she must have taken that into account. 

He had no problem being called so that's what he answered, “Jisung is just fine Ms Fow-” he was interrupted by the headmistress’s held up hand, “good, and please there is no need for formalities, just Alldyn is fine.” 

_Just Alldyn?_ Jisung felt it weird but he thought that it would only be proper to call her by what she preferred, even if it was a bit odd. He nodded, "okay." 

She clapped her hands together, "great, let us go," she walked past Jisung and opened the dark double door. Turning around Jising could see her expression had softened and a smile graced her lips, "come on then." 

… 

This time Jisung didn't see the cat as they passed the second floor. He also decided to not ask about the animal as he was more curious about where they were now heading, the kitchen.

They exited the building through a different door which led out to the schoolyard. Jisung slowed down his walk, taking in the new area. The school was huge, at least from what Jisung could see since it was rather hard to see the buildings furthest away, blending with the dark forest behind, surrounding the school.

Alldyn kept on walking and Jisung hurried back to her side. They were heading towards a one-storied building and some of the windows were lit up, emitting light as Jisung saw a dark figure pass by one of them. 

Jisung sneaked a peek at the headmistress walking next to him, thinking about what she had said earlier.

_“First and foremost we need to go down to the school cafeteria and get some garlic.” Garlic, actual garlic?_ Jisung had no clue what garlic had to do with him not wanting to wear a cross. So, he took a deep breath and decided to ask. 

“Um… Ms- I mean… Alldyn?” They had arrived at the door and she held it open, letting Jisung enter first.

She let the door go and entered as well. She walked up next to Jisung and tilted her head, eyebrows raised as she looked down at him, “yes?” 

Jisung stood quiet for a second and then asked, “why are we… em… getting garlic?”

The headmistress opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted when a tall man suddenly walked out from the kitchen, wiping off his hands on a kitchen towel while humming. 

“Oh, good evening Alldyn!” he smiled at the headmistress and then let his eyes land on Jisunng who watched the man with curious eyes. Something hung around the man's neck and Jisungs followed the exposed chain all the way down to a familiar silver shape.

_He's wearing a cross,_ he thought as the man stepped closer and swung the kitchen towel over his shoulder, and Jisung noted that the man had very broad shoulders.

The man extended his hand and gave another big smile.

“Hello, I’m Kim Seokjin, but everyone just calls me Jin.” 

Jisung accepted the hand and looked up at Jin. “Jisung,” he said as he let go of the hand and noticed the man’s eyes had stayed on him. His eyebrows rose as he looked over at Alldyn, the creases on his forehead even more visible when he raised them even higher, giving her a questioning look. 

“Jin, could you be so kind and go fetch Jisung some garlic?” She glanced over at Jisung before turning back to Jin who was already moving back into the kitchen. “Thank you.”

Watching as Jin disappeared behind the kitchen door as it shut Alldyn emitted something similar to a chuckle. “To answer your previous questions about the garlic, it’s because of Minho.”

_Minho? Who’s that?_ The kitchen door swung open and Jin returned with something in his hands. 

Alldyn pointed at the two garlic cloves and continued, “well, you see, we have a student here, Minho, he is a vampire and you will need to have some kind of protection." She held up the chain around her neck and let the cross sway for a while and pointed at Jin who had his cross on display. "While it is recommended to wear a silver cross, garlic works too.” Jin handed Jisung the two cloves and Alldyn pointed towards Jisung’s jeans. “One in each pocket should be enough.”

Though confused Jisung tucked the garlic into his pockets and Alldyn gave a nod of approval.

Jin smiled and clapped his hands together. “Alright, I still got some things to do so…” he looked at Jisung, “I’ll see you around?” He chuckled and Jisung let out a snort when the man shot him finger guns. 

They left the school cafeteria and were on their way back to Alldyn’s office to get Jisungs bags, but his mind was somewhere else as he let his hand occasionally go over the bump in his pocket made by the garlic which was apparently supposed to _protect_ him.

_Vampires, actual vampires?_ Jisung couldn’t believe what he had just heard, he looked over at the woman walking next to him, _maybe she was just joking? But that means Jin was in on it too…_

“Is something the matter?” Alldyn was holding the door up ahead and Jisung realized he had stopped. 

He hurried over to the door and entered. “Everything’s fine, I was just thinking about something.” 

She tilted her head and gave him a curious look, “I’m all ears if you’d like to share your thoughts,” she said as they walked up the marble stairs. At first, Jisung wanted to decline the offer but as they passed the second floor, making their way up the marble he figured that, if he wanted answers to his questions he would haveto ask. 

They were now on the third floor and heading towards the large double door. Jisung took a deep breath before speaking.

"So… this," he pointed to his right pocket, "is it for real?" Alldyn's hands had stopped mid-air, reaching out to the silver handles, she looked over her shoulder to meet Jisung's eyes. He immediately regretted asking because the woman's face went from gentle and kind to cold and serious in an instant. For a second Jisung felt almost afraid of the woman and her piercing gaze. 

"It is,” was all she said as she grabbed both handles, turning them down and pushed the doors open, letting them slowly swing up as she stepped into the office.

Jisung walked over to the blue chair where his pillow and bags laid untouched. He dared a look over at the headmistress who had walked over to a wooden coat rack where a single dark coat hung from one of its hocks. She slipped her right arm into the sleeve and swung the fabric over herself, the silk inside of the coat shining. 

Jisung quickly pulled on his backpack and hung the duffle bag's shoulder strap around himself, his jacked stuck in between the two shorter straps; pillow under his left arm.

Alldyn turned around, “I’ll show you to your dorm,” and Jisung just nodded, feeling a bit awkward after getting such a cold look from the headmistress. 

… 

The silence grew heavy and Jisung went for the phone in his pocket, wanting some kind of distraction, the sun must have gone beyond the horizon when they had gone to get Jisung’s bags because the screen was bright in contrast to the now dark outside.

_19:59_ read the lock screen and Jisung quickly turned off the screen when Alldyn slowed down to a stop and looked towards something. Jisung followed her eyes and landed on a building a bit far away.

Alldyn pointed towards the building, “that’s dorm A, you were supposed to live in there but…” She paused, “I didn’t think it mattered _too_ much whether you were to stay in dorm A or B,” she resumed her walk, "and C is out of the question since it's already full."

Jisung on the other hand was still watching the building, his eyes squinted so that he could get a better look. A majority of the windows were black, but the one farthest to the left was lit up. The light escaping seemed to be blocked by something, a vertical pattern and Jisung squinted his eyes even more.

What he saw made him shut his eyes in disbelief and try again, but what he saw was still the same and he felt goosebumps creep up his back and out onto his arms. Bars were covering all windows of dorm A and Jisung didn’t know what to think. 

_I was supposed to live there? What the hell?_ He looked towards the headmistress who was now walking away from him.

Jisung hurried up next to her. She gave him a swift glance before turning her head up towards the night sky. A faint smile gracing her lips as her shoulders grew relaxed. “The blue hour, as beautiful as ever,” Jisung looked up too and was met by a dark blue sky and not a single cloud present. Alldyn pulled her coat closer to her body, “are you not cold?” She nodded towards the jacket hanging off the duffle bag. 

“Not really,” was all Jisung said and the woman sighed, steam from her breath quickly fading into nothing. 

“I’m sorry if I seemed angry at you when you asked me about whether this whole _thing_ is real or not,” she tilted her head and continued, “you see, I had _specifically_ told your uncle to tell you about our school, and what we do here,” she pinched the bridge of her nose as her eyebrows moved into a frown. “But it seems like he couldn’t even do _that_.”

She exhaled once again as she met Jisungs eyes, the creases between her brow eased and her expression became softer, making an almost sympathetic look.

“What your uncle did to you Jisung…“ She hesitated and spoke again, “nevermind…” She looked forward again, another awkward silence hung heavy but Jisung ignored it, too caught up in his own mind.

_What he did to me?_ He drew his eyebrows into a confused frown, looking down at the stone path they were walking. _What the heck is she talking about?_ Jisung tried to recall if his uncle had done anything that had struck him as odd, but as he tried to remember nothing came to mind. 

Suddenly Alldyn stopped and Jisung would have walked into her if not for her long coat which had come into view. He looked up and saw that they had stopped in front of a building. 

The building was of grey and brown bricks, it looked old, giving it some character. Jisung eyes landed on the entrance, a simple wooden door that had a large _B_ hanging next to it. 

Alldyn walked up to the door and Jisung followed, standing a bit behind as she pulled the right door open and entered. 

Walking along the hall they passed a door, peoples voices could be heard from the other side. 

“That’s the common room and if you pass through it you’ll get to the kitchen, which has a couple of microwaves and refrigerators along with some tables to sit at if you want company,” she pointed towards a staircase ahead, “that leads to the second floor, but you will be staying at this floor.” She took something out of her coat’s pocket when she turned left and continued down a hall, doors on each side with numbers on them. 

What Alldyn held in her hand was a keychain with two keys and a small wooden block, the number 17 burnt into it. 

She inserted one of the keys into the lock and turned, the latch responding with a _click_ as she pushed the handle down, opening the door. 

Following her into the room Jisung didn’t know what to think. This would be where he’d be living from now on and he couldn’t bring himself to be overjoyed or excited. He felt empty where he stood by the open door, looking into the vacated room. It felt like a hotel room, it didn’t belong to him and had no sentimental value. 

In the corner stood a neatly done bed under a single window with white curtains pulled back on each side, blinds turned shut. His eyes wandered over to the wooden desk, which had a turned off lamp. The chair matched the desk, also made out of light wood and had some red padding on the seat and backrest. In the middle of the room laid a large carpet covering a portion of the wooden floor. 

  
  


Jisung took a step forward but lifted his foot when a faint sound came from under his shoe, he had stepped on something and Alldyn must have heard it too because she briskly walked over to Jisung and bent down to retrieve whatever he had stepped on. It was a note with some hearts on it along with a newly made footprint by Jisung’s shoe. Alldyn unfolded the paper and took a quick glance at the note before crumpling the paper into a ball, tossing it into the empty trashcan by the desk. She placed one hand on her hip and sighed, looking at Jisung.

“Ah, don’t worry, the note was for the person who used to live in this room,” she stepped aside and nodded, probably wanting Jisung to actually step inside his new room. 

Alldyn watched him with a satisfied expression, “you can put your clothes in here,” she walked over to the wardrobe and opened it, “there are some spare bedsheets down here,” she walked over to the door to her left, “ and bathroom’s over here.” 

Jisung held onto the backpacks shoulder strap, he nodded his head pretending to be interested in the short tour. He didn’t know what to say, there _was_ nothing to say. This was his reality now, whether he liked it or not. His eyes began to sting and he looked down at his feet, tightening his grip on the strap. 

_Don’t cry! Do not cry!_ He didn’t want to break down in front of the headmistress, he didn’t want her to pity him, anything but that. 

“Oh, and by the way,” she clapped her hands together as if she remembered something. “Your uncle mentioned that you'd rather attend classes at night, correct?” Jisung loosened the grip on his bag and met the headmistress's eyes.

He was grateful to Alldyn for steering the conversation. Jisung wasn’t so sure he could keep his voice steady enough to answer her question. So he settled for a silent nod. 

“I’ll send Claudia over to bring you something to eat before class starts at 21:30-”

Jisung cut her off, “I’m… I’m not hungry,” he squeezed the pillow under his arm. Truth be told he was hungry but his appetite was not present at the moment. Too much going on in his mind to care about something as simple as hunger.

“Okay, but you’ll have to eat something…” Jisung swallowed dryly thinking she was going to force him. Alldyn sighed and spoke in a calm manner, “think you’ll manage until midnight?” Jisung nodded and she smiled. 

“Oh, I forgot to mention. We would like to run some tests tomorrow afternoon if you would be okay with that? I had informed your uncle about it but since he didn’t tell you anything I thought this might also have slipped.” Jisung nodded again and Alldyn walked over to him. “Here you go,” she held out the keychain and Jisung took it with his free hand. 

She headed towards the door and pulled it open but stopped, hand still on the handle as she turned and met Jisung with a faint smile. “It’s good to have you with us, Jisung,” she said, closing the door behind her. 

Now, alone in the room, was only Jisung. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! that was chapter one (and yes I know it's only Sunday but if I don't post this chapter now or I'm sure I would just rewrite the whole thing a third time...) 
> 
> But I hope it wasn't too long. this is my first writing, let alone posting a fanfic onto here.  
> I will try to keep the chapters between 5000~7000 ish, though I can only write so much since I have high school to worry about. Also, the writing process for me at least is pretty slow. On a good day, I can write about 600 words in one sitting while other days I just get stuck rewriting one single scene.
> 
> I'm sorry Jisung, everything is going to be fine, right? RIGHT?! //sweats nervously
> 
> Let me just say... I just had to include Jin okay?? like how could I not?! hehe. and the finger guns? heck yeah, am I right?


	3. Minho and Garlic, A Match Made In Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, chapter two here we go!

  
  


Jisung held down the heel on his shoes and pushed it off, doing the same with the other before kicking them towards the door. He dropped his bags by the bed and walked over to the trashcan under the desk. He was thankful for whoever had emptied it before his arrival.

“Okay, let’s see…” He picked up the crumpled note and carefully unfolded it so as to not rip it. There were at least ten pink hearts drawn on the note, some even carefully colored in while others remained white.

_ FELIX, MEET ME AT MY DORM TONIGHT OR CALL ME - ALICE  _

Jisung flipped the note and cringed when he saw even more hearts, more text and a number, “right to the point huh… so bold,” he hesitated for a moment before crumpling the note back into a ball again. 

Walking over to his new bed Jisung threw himself onto the mattress. Looking up at the bland ceiling while letting out a tired sigh. He unfolded the note once again, this time not so careful, causing the paper to tear at some places. He looked at the writing, holding it up and away from him. The hearts drawn on the back made visible by the ceiling lamp and Jisung grimaced at the sight. This kind of thing, love letters, he couldn’t see himself writing such a letter. But still he let the thought linger in the back of his mind.

_ Love…  _ He thought,  _ have I ever been in love?  _ He tried to remember, even closing his eyes in an attempt to visualise something, anything. But just like every other time, he couldn’t remember. Nothing from his past life before the accident. Friends, places, nothing. The only people he could remember were his parents who he had gone to heaven with. When he had died.

He hugged the paper in his hand, tears burning behind his eyes as he caved into himself, wanting nothing but to hide from it all. He forced his eyes shut and uttered a whisper. “I just want to go back…” 

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door causing Jisung to flinch. He opened his eyes, glancing over at the door as he took out his phone from his pocket. He turned on the lock screen, looking down at the numbers,  _ 20:41  _ read back at him. He pocketed his phone and returned his attention to the door, thinking back to what the headmistress had told him.

_ Claudia was it? But she isn’t supposed to be here until 21:30, so why? Shit, is she early? _

There came another knock, this time sounding more urgent and aggressive.

The knocking didn’t stop and Jisung felt irritation grow. “Okay okay!” he called out as he got off his bed and walked over to the door. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, just to be on the safe side. He reached out and turned the lock, the latch responding with a  _ click _ . 

Suddenly the door swung open, almost hitting him in the face had he not taken a step back. “What the hell!” he shouted at the girl but she only passed him and walked into the room. Her eyes frantically searched the room and Jisung watched her in disbelief. 

“Felix?” She called out in a high pitched voice like one usually does when trying to sound cute, but the instant she turned to face Jisung her expression changed, along with her voice.

She grimaced at him, “and who are  _ you _ ? What are you doing in Felix’s room?” She sounded almost disgusted but quickly changed her pitch again. “Is Felix here?” She said as she pushed her dark hair behind her ear while looking around. 

Jisung wanted nothing else but for her to leave. He took a step towards the girl. “Look, I don’t know who this  _ Felix  _ is, so can you please leav-” he was cut off by a loud gasp. 

“Hey, that’s my note!” She yelled, pointing at the paper ball in his hand. She leaned forward and tried to grab it but Jisung was faster, backing away from her. “That note is for Felix! Give it back!” 

Jisung raised his arm, holding the hand with the note above him. The girl tried jumping but failed to reach. 

“Would you just listen to me!” Jisung had had enough, this was his first day at the new school and he just wanted some peace and quiet. “I couldn't care less about what your relationship with this  _ Felix  _ is but-” he was interrupted by the girl, again.

“Why do you care!” she barked back at him, “this has nothing to do with you so don’t involve yourself with…!” Her expression changed all of a sudden, eyes wide and mouth open in shock. “Wait, don’t tell me… You’re not his boyfriend are you?” She grabbed Jisung’s hoodie and pulled him down to her level, “please- you can’t be, tell me you’re not!” she tugged on the fabric. “Please!” 

Jisung dropped the crumpled up note, letting it fall to the floor. She had crossed the line and he wasn’t going to put up with her any longer. He grabbed her by her wrists and she shrieked when he tightened his hold on her, making her release his hoodie. She tried to wriggle her arms out of his grip but Jisung was much stronger.

“Listen.” He furrowed his brow and looked her right in the eye. He knew that what he was about to do was incredibly stupid, but, ignoring the voice in his head telling him to stop, he spoke.

“First of all-” he took a step forward, forcing her to walk backwards as he held her by her wrists. “-I have no idea who this  _ Felix  _ is,” he took another step and so did the girl. “Second of all. This is  _ my  _ room and not this ‘Felix’ guy’s room, got it?” He didn’t wait for her to respond, only pushing her closer to the door. He needed her to get out. Jisung didn’t like confrontations and would rather stay out of trouble, but enough is enough. 

“And third.” He released one hand and now, using his free hand, opened the door. He cursed inwardly, _Shit,_ _I can’t think of a third thing_ … 

He thought for a moment and decided to settle for something clear and simple. “J-just stay away from me!” He warned her, shoving her out the door. She let out a scream and Jisung realised he’d forgotten to hold back his strength, causing her to hit the wall opposite of the hall. 

Guilt instantly filled his chest and he regretted pushing her. It wasn’t her fault his uncle had left him there at the school, and Jisung knew that. He shouldn’t have taken out his anger on her. 

He stood by the open door and considered for a moment.  _ Should I go ask if she’s okay? Shit, did she hit her head? Oh god, what if she has a concussion, what do I do then? or even worse, internal blee- _

“Alice, what is going on here?” A woman suddenly appeared in front of Jisung. She did a quick once-over before turning and walking over to the girl on the floor. She helped the girl up and brushed off some dust from her back. 

“Alice, I thought I’d told you that Felix no longer lives in room seventeen. And even if he did, you’re not allowed to visit him.” The woman put one hand on her shoulder and the girl, Alice, sighed in defeat.

“I know but you know that I can’t… I just…!” Alice looked over at Jisung and hesitated. She mumbled a quick “sorry,” before running down the hall and into what must have been her own dorm room.

The woman that Alice had called Claudia turned around and faced Jisung. She looked to be more on the younger side, if Jisung had to guess, maybe thirty or thirty-five? 

“I’m so sorry you had to meet Alice like this, she’s a really nice girl but when it comes to Felix,” she sighed and looked over her shoulder towards the direction Alice had gone. “Let's just say she has her reasons.” 

Jisung had no clue what she meant by that and just felt awkward where he stood in the doorway, not really sure what to say. His mind was too busy trying to make sense of it all and what had just happened. Still, he felt like the woman was giving him time to gather his thoughts before speaking up and Jisung felt grateful for that.

“Alldyn said you weren’t really hungry so I didn’t bring you any food.” She held up a plastic bag which Jisung hadn’t noticed until now. “But…” she stuck her hand down the bag and grabbed something. “I got you a-” she flipped the juice packed around and read the logo, “-Capri sun, if that’s okay?” She smiled and handed the juice over to Jisung. Her hand lightly brushed against his, causing him to suddenly be swept in by a calm feeling. 

She looked at him and smiled, her posture turned more relaxed. “There are some things that I would like to talk to you about if you don’t mind?” her voice was sort of gentle, like the sound of soothing waves.

With the Capri sun in one hand, Jisung stepped into his room and to the side, so that the woman could enter, "sure."

As she walked in she stopped, her eyes suddenly widened as if realizing something before laughing. “I haven’t introduced myself have I?” She held out her hand, “I’m Claudia.” Jisung stepped forward and took her hand. 

_ There it is again,  _ he thought when he once more was swept in a blanket of calmness. He didn’t want to let go but knew he would seem weird if he tried to hold on, so he just nodded and responded with a simple “Jisung,” before letting go, while she continued.

“I’m the school’s counselor but I am also teaching the psychology and philosophy class,” she paused.“And on top of that, I’ll be your mentor in personal development. So we will be seeing each other a lot from now on.” 

“Personal what?” Jisung gave her a confused look and she mirrored his expression. 

“Oh,” she put one hand over her mouth and muttered to herself, “She  _ did  _ say your uncle hadn’t told you much.” She let go of the plastic bag and took a step closer. “Did he tell you anything, like anything at all?” 

She was close and Jisung noticed the silver cross hanging around her neck. Jisung’s uncle had mentioned that the school was a bit unusual,  _ different _ . But other than that, he'd been kept in the dark, only given vague answers to his questions by his uncle.

He looked at Claudia, she was watching him now, probably deciding whether to speak her mind or let Jisung steer the subject.

Jisung felt the lump in his throat return, his uncle had dragged him out to this school without even considering that he might not have wanted to. But no. In the end, he didn’t have a say in the matter, no matter how much he protested. 

The lump in his throat prevented him from forming words so he just shook his head, letting his eyes drop to the floor as they burned from tears wanting to push through. He didn’t want to be at this school, hell he wasn’t even supposed to be here at all. 

His headspace filled with nothing but sorrowful thoughts, grieving his parents and himself. He tightened his hold on the juice in his hand, the package about to give in to the pressure. 

But it didn’t, instead, a gentle hand to his shoulder made him ease on the hold. It was Claudia and again, Jisung felt calmed by her touch as it made the burning sensation in his eyes subside and his chaotic thoughts manageable.

“Jisung?” He opened his eyes, not recalling having closed them. “Do you want to skip class for tonight and just rest instead?” She removed her hand from his shoulder and pulled out a phone from her back pocket. “Class starts at 21:30, it’s only 21:03 now,” she looked over at him. “There is still some time if you want to think about it-” 

He shook his head, “no, I’ll be fine.” He was actually telling the truth, he was in deep need of some kind of distraction to keep his thoughts from spiraling out of control, and going to class might just do the trick.

Claudia gave him a worried look, “you sure? I could tell Alldyn that you’re not feeling well.” 

Jisung shook his head again, “no, no. I’m fine,” he forced a smile. “Really.” 

Claudia gave him a dubious look, “you’re really sure?” She had likely seen right through his act but must have decided not to press the matter any further. 

He nodded once more. “Yes,” he tried to sound as confident as possible and Claudia tried to hold back a sigh as she went over to the plastic bag and picked it up. 

“Well, if you say so,” the plastic bag rustled as she dug for something. “Ah, here it is,” she pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it over to him. “This is your schedule,” she tapped her index finger on Thursday’s column. “You have psychology with me now at 21:30 in classroom thirty-one which is on the third floor." She shot him a silly wink, "no worries though, I’ll walk you there so you don’t get lost.” Jisung nodded and Claudia moved towards the door and pushed down the handle. She waited for a moment and spoke over her shoulder, “you still got the…?” She gestured down at her jeans and Jisung got the hint.

“Yeah,” he took out one of the garlic cloves Jin had given him.

“One in each I hope?” Her tone was friendly but her words held weight to them. He realized she wasn't going to leave until he’d taken out the other clove to confirm that he was indeed carrying one in each. 

“Good,” was all she said when he took out the other before pulling the door open. “I’ll wait for you out in the hall.” She said and shut the door, allowing Jisung to finally let out a sigh. 

… 

Jisung had two keys in total and figured he could just leave one behind. So he pulled off one of the keys from its keychain and left it on his desk, along with the juice he’d gotten from Claudia. He went into the bathroom and did his business, washing his hands while taking in the bathroom.

It was small but held all the necessities, a toilet, sink, shower and even some shelves as well as three hooks where he could hang his towels and such.

He leaned over the sink, his hands on each side as his reflection looked back at him. “I hate this…” he muttered as he drew one hand through his brown hair and took a deep breath, glaring at himself through the mirror one last time before turning around, leaving the bathroom.

Jisung stepped out into the hall and turned around. He inserted the key, locking the door and then looked over at Claudia who was waiting for him a bit up ahead.

… 

It was completely dark now and Jisung had it difficult to see where he was going. He understood now why Claudia took it upon herself to accompany him because he would have, without a doubt, gotten lost if he'd walk alone.

As they made their way over to the building Jisung figured this was an opportunity to get some answers. He had a lot of questions but decided to start with the most pressing issue. 

“So this Minho…“ Jisung waited for Claudia to react. She looked at him for a moment before he continued. “Is he really, you know…” He paused and for some reason felt it necessary to whisper his next words. “A vampire?” Claudia came to a stop which caused Jisung to stop as well. His question had earned him a surprised look from her when she turned around to look at him.

“Well of course he is, didn’t Alldyn tell you?” She resumed her walk and Jisung hurried up next to her. She glanced at him before focusing her eyes towards the approaching building. “I assumed, well…since you’re carrying that,” she gestured towards his jeans, “that you'd at least been told of the reason.” 

Well. Alldyn had told him about Minho but Jisung wasn't sure whether he should actually believe her. 

“She _did_ tell me but... like, vampires don’t actually exist, right?” Jisung heard her let out an amused sigh.

“Believe me when I say that they do.” She looked up at the building ahead, “and I think you will soon come to terms with that doubt of yours.” He followed her gaze and noticed the light escaping from one of the windows on the third floor, furthest to the right. 

He spotted a boy looking out the window, watching him and Claudia. Jisung couldn’t quite tell what expression he was making, the backlit light casting a faint shadow over his face. But somehow Jisung still managed to find his eyes and make eye contact. He guessed that this person was the so-called vampire he’d be attending class with. 

The boy looked away, breaking their eye contact and Jisung looked over at Claudia. She now stood by the door and Jisung walked past her, thanking her for holding the door for him. They walked past the library and Claudia boasted proudly about how the school has so many books and so on. 

After continuing down the corridor, turning left and up the white marble stairs Jisung’s thought began to drift,  _ do I really need protection though?  _ Jisung’s hand traveled down to his pocket and dug until his fingertips found the garlic clove.

_ Aren’t I strong enough to fight him off if he attacks me?  _ He tried to imagine a scenario but he had no idea. He caught the clove in between his fingers and slowly eased it up to the edge, balancing on the seam. 

_What would even happen if he bit me?_ _Would he empty my veins to the very last drop of blood, and then what, I’d just die?_ He felt his heart flutter at the thought and he repeated it in his mind. _Die. I could die._

Now holding the garlic clove in his hand Jisung could feel an itch grow, an itch to just let go of the clove and let it drop to the floor. Maybe he could play it off by saying he had holes in his pocket and say he dropped them on the way.

He glanced at Claudia several times as she led the way up the marble stairs and then turned left,continuing down the corridor. They walked past a few classrooms before Jisung caught sight of light escaping from under the door furthest away. He could feel his pulse quicken, his heart hammering in his chest as he began to panic. 

_ I have to let go of it now or else it won’t work! _

Jisung took one quick last glance and when he was sure Claudia wasn't paying attention he dropped the first clove to the floor.  _ Okay, good. _ He puffed out a silent breath of relief.  _ One gone, just one more to go. _

Jisung practically ripped the second garlic clove out of his pocket. His heartbeat loud in his chest and Jisung wasn’t sure whether it was from the sheer excitement that he would finally be with his parents again or that he was fearing getting caught. Maybe a bit of both.

He held the other in his hand and before releasing it he smiled to himself.  _ Mom, dad. I’m coming home.  _

There was a sudden hand on his shoulder and Jisung’s whole body became paralyzed from being caught off guard. 

_ Fuck. _ He had been so fixated on not getting caught by Claudia in front of him that he’d failed to notice the quick footsteps approaching from behind.

“Han Jisung, I would advise you  _ not _ to drop that.” The hand slipped off his shoulder and he dared to slowly turn around and look. 

Jisung’s heart dropped as he recognized the voice, he could tell by that alone that it was Alldyn who was standing behind him. So he wasn’t surprised when he turned around and saw a face framed by white strands of hair with the rest tied up in a neat bun in the back. He carefully turned back and looked over at Claudia, she had stopped, most likely surprised by the headmistress' sudden appearance. 

“Alldyn? What brings you here?” Claudia looked over at her colleague with a surprised look but then shifted her eyes onto something else which made them go wide. “That’s!” She burst out as she looked at Jisung who now turned back around to see what had caused her to look at him in such a shocking way. 

He first met the headmistress's eyes before moving onto her held up hand. She was holding something and when Jisung realized it was the little garlic clove he had, just a moment ago, dropped to the floor he felt his heart stop.

“Claudia?” Alldyn spoke as she met Jisung’s eyes and he could swear she actually shot him a sly smile before looking over at her colleague. “Can I just borrow Jisung for a moment?” She dropped her hand but still held on to the garlic clove. She looked down at Jisung who just stared back at her. 

“Oh. Yes, no problem,” Claudia went over to the door and pressed down the handle as she spoke over her shoulder. “I’ll be in here, so take your time, no stress.” Jisung turned around and met Claudia’s eyes, she gave Jisung a quick smile, probably to reassure him that Alldyn wasn’t angry with him, but the creases in her brow displayed worry as she disappeared behind the door. 

Jisung didn’t want to turn back around. But not because he was scared. For some reason Jisung felt like he didn’t have to fear the headmistress, she, in his mind, seemed like a person who’d prefer words over fists. Still, even if Jisung wasn't afraid of the woman he wasn't just going to act disrespectful and lash out at her. 

He might not fear her but she possessed a certain kind of aura that held immense authority. Jisung sighed and turned around. 

Jisung had initially thought he’d be met by a disappointed looking headmistress or at least something along those lines. But to his surprise, she looked anything  _ but  _ angry. On the contrary, she seemed almost amused as she looked at the boy standing before her. Jisung wanted to ask her what was so funny but she cut him to the chase.

“So.” She said as she took a step forward, holding out the small clove to Jisung as she tilted her head and watched him, a hint of curiosity crossed her eyes. “Why drop the garlic? I’m sure you wouldn't want to get bitten.” 

Jisung just looked at the garlic clove in front of him. He did not take it, only stared at it and its small size in comparison to the headmistress’s hand. He lifted his gaze and looked the headmistress straight in her eyes. 

“I don’t care if he bites me,” he said and really did mean it, the longing to be with his parents tugging at his very core of his soul.The woman on the other hand must have not expected Jisung’s answer as eyebrows slightly rose in surprise. 

She lowered her hand and took a deep sigh, closing her eyes in the process. She then looked at Jisung. “But you  _ should _ care, Jisung. I say this with nothing but good intentions and I can only hope you heed my words.” She let out another deep sigh. “You see, those who get bit by a vampire cannot go to heaven.” She said holding out her hand once more. “And I, for one, think this is something you should be aware of.”

She waited for Jisung to bring out his hands before tilting her own, letting the garlic roll out of hers and into his hands as her expression turned dead serious, not an ounce of humor in her voice as she spoke. “So,” she looked at his cupped hands, “I recommend you to hold onto that.” 

He felt his heart hammer loud in his chest,  _ how-how does she- I haven’t even told- not even uncle- so how?  _ His mind was a mess, thoughts colliding with each other, forming thousands upon thousands of questions. 

He was so caught up in his chaotic mind that he failed to notice Claudia coming out of the classroom. He only became aware of her presence when her hand settled on his shoulder and his mind untangled itself. 

“I’m sorry Jisung but I forgot to bring you a notebook. I’ll only be gone for a minute or two, in the meantime…” She paused and glanced over at the headmistress who gave her a nod of approval. Claudia smiled and turned to Jisung. “Why don’t you get acquainted with Minho, while I go fetch you a notebook?”

Jisung, for some stupid reason, nodded, instantly cursing himself in his mind. 

“Great! Okay, I’ll be back soon so just seat yourself wherever you want,” she patted Jisung on the shoulder before walking away. He felt his nerves calm at the touch, feeling a bit better but still not great. 

The headmistress was still standing in front of him and she gave him a smile as she pointed towards his hand. “Make sure you don’t lose that again,” she said turning around and Jisung watched as the woman disappeared out of sight when she turned the corner. 

He swiftly tucked the garlic back into his pocket, his heart racing as he reached out to the door handle and pulled it open in a slow motion. 

Jisung was met by a nearly empty classroom, the only person being the boy sitting further in the back by the window. 

Jisung stepped into the classroom and walked over to one of the many empty desks. He had chosen the one furthest away from the boy in hope that he would get undisturbed.

He was wrong.

The boy had shifted his attention onto Jisung, his gaze bore into his skin and he felt the hair on his arms raise. His eyes darted around the room, searching for something to busy himself with until Claudia’s return.

He looked over at the whiteboard, it was clear of writing but looked to have been used quite a lot. In front of it stood a desk, on it were a few books and a laptop that had a black stapler and perforator next to it. Jisung’s eyes then traveled to the walls and to the shelves which held many books. He squinted his eyes in an attempt to read the titles when all of a sudden the boy spoke up, making Jisung look over at him. 

“I hate that smell,” his voice was filled with disgust. “Why can’t you just wear a cross like everyone else? Much more effective and doesn’t stink.” Jisung felt his cheeks flush at the last comment. 

_ Stink,  _ he thought as he shot the boy an irritated look.  _ Oh, I’ll show you.  _

“Why don’t you shut up before I throw one at you then?” He said, bringing one hand to his pocket.  _ If he tries anything I’ll just-  _ Jisung didn’t have time to finish that thought. 

In the blink of an eye, the boy had suddenly moved across the room and was now standing right in front of Jisung. He settled one hand on the desk and leaned forward. 

“Most people are afraid of me, as they should be,” he sneered at him. “So what’s so special about you then? except for the fact that you’re ridiculously cute.” He leaned a bit closer. 

The boy was obviously trying to provoke him, most likely wanting some kind of reaction. But Jisung said nothing as the boy looked straight into his eyes, drawing his lips into a thin smile. 

“A shapeshifting chipmunk maybe? or a…?” He stood and brought one hand to his chin. “What are they called again?” he muttered to himself while Jisung just looked at him, confusion settling as a crease in his brow.

_ What the- a shapeshifting… chipmunk? Is that some kind of insult?  _

The boy suddenly slammed both hands onto the desk, startling Jisung. “Are you some kind of quokka?” Jisung didn’t answer but instead looked away from the boy’s dark eyes, taking sudden notice of his arms. The skin looked a bit red as if irritated and Jisung then realized.

_ Is this because of the…? _ He felt his lips curl into a smile as the boy kept on talking.

“I guess that explains why you’re not afraid of me, you wouldn’t know danger even if it were to stand right in front of you.” The boy had finished talking and Jisung decided that if this Minho guy wanted an answer, then an answer he was going to get.

He looked up at him, meeting his gaze. “No, I’m not some kind of ‘shapeshifting quokka’, whatever that means, but to answer your question about what’s so special about me…” he paused until he knew he had the boy’s full attention. “Apparently I can have garlic in my pockets. That seems like something not  _ everyone  _ can do.” The boy stayed silent and just glared at him, and for a moment Jisung thought he’d cross the line. 

The familiar sound of a door opening had him look away, but he could still feel the boy’s eyes on him but figured he wasn’t in any danger. It had been Claudia who’d returned, holding a notebook in her hand. 

“Minho, please step away from Jisung.” Her voice was stern whilst somehow still kind and Jisung turned his head back towards the boy. But to his surprise, Minho was gone. 

Jisung’s eyes darted around the classroom only to see him already back to sitting at his desk, looking out the window. He let his eyes linger on the boy for a moment and watched his arms return back to their normal color.

He then turned his attention onto the window and his eyes widened at the sight of, well, nothing.  _ There’s no reflection…  _

He turned away and met Claudia’s eyes. She was standing by his desk holding out the notebook and Jisung accepted it. Claudia held out something else. “I noticed that you didn't bring anything to write with so I got you these, just in case,” she gave him a classic orange lead pencil and new eraser. 

“Thanks,” was all he said as she walked over to the desk by the whiteboard, his first class about to begin.

… 

Jisung didn’t pay much attention to whatever Claudia rambled on about and he didn’t care much for the other classes either. He just nodded when asked a question before going back to scribbling in his notebook.

… 

The class had been dismissed and Jisung’s phone read 23:50, meaning it was lunch break. He descended down the stairs, one sentence stuck on repeat in the back of his mind. 

_ Those who get bit by a vampire cannot go to heaven _ , Alldyn had told him back when he’d tried to get rid of the garlic in order to get himself killed.

Jisung held onto the handrail as he stepped down onto the second floor and rounded the corner, continuing down to the next. 

Jisung got goosebumps as an image of her serious face crossed his mind. 

_ You can’t go to heaven if you get bitten by a vampire… _ He quickened his pace, swiftly going descending down the last steps as his hand hovered over the handrail in case he were to trip. His heart thumping in his chest, a tantalizing reminder of his miserable existence.  _ How did she know that information was of any value to me? _

His shoe hit the white marble floor and for a moment he just stood there, letting his gaze drop to the stone floor.

He parted his lips in a whisper, “she knows doesn’t she…” He turned right and went down the corridor, continuing past the library until he saw the door. 

Jisung stepped out into the night. He could tell it was cold by how his breath turned into white smoke as he breathed out. Jisung felt a bit disappointed, not being able to feel the biting cold of September. He scoffed as he walked towards the school cafeteria. “It doesn’t matter,” he muttered to himself as he grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. __

_ I won’t stay here for long anyway. _

Jisung was greeted by a smiling Jin and he forced himself to return the gesture before looking over at the food bar. It was empty, no food had been put out for him and Jisung rubbed the back of his neck in uncertainty, not really sure what to do. He turned towards Jin, who at the sight of Jisung’s wary look clapped his hands and rushed inside the kitchen. 

Jisung waited for Jin who returned with a metal container and a jug of water. He pointed towards the empty food bar. Jisung grabbed a plate, along with a fork and knife which looked to be made out of silver, but he wasn't entirely sure. He dismissed the thought since it didn’t matter to him anyway. 

Jisung was surprised to see pancakes on his plate and Jin apologized for not preparing anything in advance, telling him that he’d forgotten to keep track of time and something about a student wanting to learn how to cook. Jisung couldn’t keep up with the man’s quick pace and only thanked him for the food.

Plate in one hand and a glass of water and flatware in the other, Jisung’s eyes landed on Minho a few tables away. He sat at one end of the longer tables and looking around Jisung saw that all other tables had their chairs flipped and put onto them, probably to make it easier to clean the floor.

Jisung sighed as he made his way over to the boy. He had to sit with Minho. 

Minho didn’t spare Jisung a single glance who seated himself at the opposite end of the table, but instead brought the styrofoam cup’s straw up to his lips, a thick red liquid traveled through the straw and into his mouth. Jisung could only guess but was pretty sure Minho was drinking blood. 

_ Great, I’m sitting at the same table as a bloodsucking vampire… _ He thought as he quickly shoved the pancakes into his mouth, his cheeks stuffed from the ridiculous amount. He even thought he heard Minho emit a quiet amused scoff when he ate the second pancake.

He took another bite, this time reminding himself not to shove a whole half a pancake into his mouth. He felt a bit self conscious from back when Minho commented on his looks.  _ Shapeshifting quokka my ass _ , he chewed angrily at the pancake in his mouth.  _ What the hell does that even mean?  _ He took another bite as he swiftly glanced over at the boy who sat at the opposite end of the empty table. 

He saw Minho shift his gaze down to his drink and Jisung realized that he was being watched. 

“Whatever…” Jisung muttered to himself before taking one last bite and gulped down the entire glass of water Jin had poured for him.

Jin took his dishes with a smile and asked if the pancakes were good. Jisung had answered with a nod and managed to force a smile. He just wanted to go back to his dorm room and sleep, preferably forever if he got to decide.

Jisung stepped out into the dark night and began to make his way back to the dorms. There was actually still one more class left but Claudia had earlier told him that he could skip math. Mentioning something about the teacher wanting to put together a test so he could measue what Jisung already knew. 

Breathing in the midnight air Jisung looked up at the pitch black sky.  _ Empty huh, just like me,  _ he thought, taking in a deep breath as he trudged back to dormitory B.

… 

Jisung passed the common room, there weren’t any muffled voices coming from behind the door this time, it was late and Jisung was most likely the only one still awake. 

His footsteps felt loud as the sound bounced off the empty corridor walls. Jisung stopped by his door.  _ 17 _ , he read in his mind as he inserted the key, the latch responding and unlocking the door. He stepped inside and locked the door behind him before pushing off his shoes. He didn’t bother to switch on the lights. He felt drained and exhaustion started to finally show itself. He wanted more than to just sleep.

So, forcing himself to move his legs Jisung threw himself onto the mattress and with one hand he removed one garlic clove from his pockets one at a time. He grimaced at the cloves before tossing both to the floor. He then pulled the cover over himself while turning over so that he faced the wall. He just stared at it until his eyes grew heavy and he slowly drifted into sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I made a lot of mistakes in this one but it is what it is.
> 
> Also, like my Quokka joke? hehe


	4. Dreams, Angels and Bad News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He studied the man for a moment, starting down by his white pointed shoes that looked to be as good as new, except for a few specks of dirt most likely made from their grapple earlier. Jisung’s eyes traveled up the white high waisted suit pants and past the long silk fabric tucked in at the front. His eyes lingered on the beautiful blouse but quickly darted his eyes over at the wings spread out from each side of the man. They weren’t as large as Felice’s, the angel he had met back in heaven, but they were wings alright and that was all Jisung’s mind could focus on. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: suicide attempt   
> Okay, so it's 2 am right now but I really wanted this chapter to get done so I did it. 
> 
> This one gets a little I dunno, heavy maybe? And it's kind of short, sorry about that.
> 
> Anyway, chapter 3 here we go!
> 
> Skip to end notes for summary in case you choose to not read the chapter.

Jisung felt the refreshing breeze against his puffy cheeks. The smell of flowers familiar as he brushed his hands against grass. He felt a smile form on his lips as he, ever so slowly, opened his eyes. Jisung saw two figures approaching and somehow he knew, he just  _ knew _ . 

Jisung got up on his feet, his heart soaring into the bright blue sky as he called out to them. “Mom! Dad!” he ran, just like he had done the first time, his arms spread out wide as he jumped into his parents’ warm embrace. Tears ran down his cheeks and Jisung hugged them with everything he had. 

“My little baby,” his mother whispered to him, cupping his face in her hands. Jisung looked over at his father who stood and watched with a gentle smile. His mother wiped away a tear from his cheek. “We miss you so much,” she said, her thumb going over his cheek, just like she always does when she comforts him.

“I miss you too, mom,” he turned to his father, “and dad, god I miss you so much.” He choked out a sob and his mother pulled him into another hug. 

“Then what are you waiting for? All you have to do is-” She was interrupted by his father’s hand settling on her shoulder. He smiled at her, “honey, I’m sure he understands.” 

His mother looked back at her son and Jisung couldn’t help but beam at her. Of course he understood, how could he not have thought of that himself? He could be with them again. “And then we’ll be together, forever?” Jisung already knew the answer but still nearly exploded with joy when his mother answered with an eager nod.

She released him from the hug and the warmth of her gone as well. But it was okay, because soon they would be together again. 

Jisung felt his consciousness beginning to wake, so he gave them both one big last hug and he felt the thrill of soon being with them again make every fiber of his being cheer.  _ I’m coming back to you, just wait for me, _ he thought, before everything faded into darkness.

… 

Jisung laid awake in his bed. The covers had fallen to the floor but he didn’t bother to pick them up. Instead, he reached for his phone on the small night table. 02:31, read in bright white numbers.  _ There’s still time, _ he thought, quickly getting up from his bed. He hurried over to the door and clumsily pulled on his shoes.

Turning around Jisung whispered a short “farewell,” to his dorm room before walking out the door. He had left the keys on his desk along with a hastily written note. 

_ Tell uncle I’m sorry but I was never meant to be here. - Han Jisung _

Jisung carefully walked through the dorm hall, he wasn't going to risk waking any of the students up by being too rushed. Still, he couldn’t stop smiling, his heart hammering in his chest as he made his way over to the building's exit. 

Fresh air filled his lungs and Jisung smiled so big he was sure his gums were showing. He looked up at the still dark early morning sky. The sun wasn’t up yet but Jisung didn’t mind, the darkness didn’t make him feel alone and empty anymore, it was the opposite, with its endless possibilities and space for one to finally breathe out.

Ignoring the stone path he had walked before Jisung ran on the grass. It was a bit wet, soaking the tips of his shoes as the distance between him and the large school building became ever so smaller.

Excitement bubbled in his chest as he looked up at the tall building.  _ This will do for sure! _ he thought, walking around and trying to find a way up his one way ticket to heaven.

He eventually found a fire escape ladder on the side of the building. It took him a couple of tries to reach the first metal rung but once he felt he had a good grip he pulled himself up, grabbing onto the next. For once, Jisung was actually thankful for his newfound strength, climbing the ladder with ease.

He felt butterflies form in his stomach as he got closer to the roof. He was sure he looked like an idiot with how excited he was, but he didn’t care, he was going back. Going  _ home. _

His heart skipped a beat when he reached the top and he couldn't help but let out a laugh. He pulled himself up the last rung and onto the roof. It was a bit slippery, small patches of ice created by the cold night. Jisung watched his step, he wasn’t planning on accidentally falling. He wanted to be the one who took the last step.

The roof was pretty much empty except for something looking like pipes but Jisung couldn't see much and he wasn’t exactly curious either. 

He spread out his arms and walked along the roof, imagining them to be wings. His whole body felt almost electric and he barked out a laugh when he for a moment lost his footing. He felt alive where he stood, all alone on the rooftop. 

Jisung turned towards the sky. He realized it wasn’t actually pitch black, but a beautiful deep blue. He felt like he was watching the ocean from somewhere far, far away. 

A tear ran down his cheek but not because he was sad, no, Jisung felt anything but sad. 

The tear traveled down to his chin and he wiped it off with his thumb. He felt ready. He  _ was _ ready.

With slow steps, Jisung got closer to the edge and looked down. His heart fluttered and he felt his feet become light at the sight. He giggled, he would without a doubt die if he jumped. 

Jisung knew his body wouldn't let him just fall to his death, human instincts and all. So he stepped away from the edge. He was going to make it so that his body wouldn't be able to stop him, no matter what. 

Jisung checked once more down towards the ground, just to make sure no one was there. He then turned around and began to make his way over to the center of the roof. He took a look around before closing his eyes. He wanted to savor this beautiful moment. 

He thought of his mom, her bright smile and soft hands cupping his puffy cheeks. He thought of his father and his contagious laugh, his stupid but loving smile whenever he made him proud. 

He opened his eyes and slowly released the air in his lungs. He watched his breath turn into white fog before disappearing into the night. He turned his head towards the sky and watched as the dark clouds parted, finally making room for the moon to shine through.

He took a deep breath. He was a bit nervous but that was okay, most people would probably be, were they also about to jump to their death. He tried to not think about the fall itself but what came after. It would hurt, Jisung was aware of that but what was a little pain in comparison to heaven, if not merely a small price to pay.

His feet felt light where he stood, he began to shift the weight between his legs. His heart beat hard in his chest as he told himself, “I can do this,” and he relaxed his hands and imagined himself shaking the uneasiness off. He bounced a bit to get some momentum.

He held his breath and took position, bending a bit forward like how professional sprinters do before the starter pulls the trigger. Determined eyes fixed on nothing else but what was in front, the finish line. The end goal.

Breathing out one last time, Jisung pushed away with one foot, quickly picking up speed. He could hear his heart thunder in his ears or maybe it was the wind, hitting his cheeks and pushing back his hair. 

The distance between him and his end quickly reduced to mere meters.

He was so close the edge disappeared from his field of view when suddenly his body sent out lightning fast warning signals throughout his body, forcing him to twist his foot and stop dead in his tracks. His body screamed for him to back away from the edge. He took a step back but slipped on something and lost balance. He fell backwards right onto the hard roof, knocking the air straight out of him. He gasped and tears burned behind his eyes as he struggled to get air when his lungs didn’t allow for any to enter. He clenched his hands into fists and slammed them at the roof. 

It took a few seconds for him to catch his breath and when he finally did, the first thing Jisung decided to do was to yell out in frustration as he slammed his fists down again, “fucking-shi-ugh fuck!” 

His though frustration was short-lived, remembering where he was and that he had to keep quiet unless he wanted to get caught. 

Jisung took a deep breath to calm himself.  _ Okay, I messed up, whatever _ , he sat himself up.  _ I’ll just do it again, no big deal, _ he thought, letting out a disappointed scoff as he took out his phone, turning on the screen. “See, there's still time,” he told himself in a sigh before shooting the small patch of ice, that had made him fall, a sour look,  _ stupid shit ice… _

He got back up on his feet but, once again, lost his footing and slipped, not considering that there could be more ice. 

Everything seemed to go in slow motion and Jisung’s mind, on pure reflex, got to work, looking for something that could save him from dropping off the edge. 

He realized that, were he to lean the opposite direction he could probably make it so that he’d fall back into the roof again, yet Jisung decided to not do anything as he caught a glimpse of the ground below. 

He just smiled. 

“What the fu-,” a sudden hand grabbed onto Jisung’s hoodie and pulled him back onto the roof. He tried to fight against whoever was holding him back but the person had him in an iron grip.

Anger began to boil inside of him and he tried elbowing whoever was behind him but was stopped by arms wrapping around him, forcing his arms into a fixed position. 

“Hey! let me g-!” Jisung yelled as he tried stepping on their feet with the heel of his shoe. He missed and the stranger suddenly pulled him down into a sitting position, keeping him from kicking them further they crossed their legs around him.

“ _ I said let me go! _ ” Jisung screamed while struggling as much as he possibly could. Sadly his efforts to break free from the hold were futile. The stranger had the upper hand. 

Jisung trashed around using the little space he had but they just tightened their hold around him. “Ugh…! let me-” he threw his head back and hit them right on the chin, “-go!” 

The hit did nothing and Jisung felt how their chest went down in a sigh. “Listen, I’m not letting you go until you’ve calmed down and come to your senses.” It was a man’s voice, but Jisung couldn’t care less whether it was a man or woman, they were trying to prevent him from going back to his parents, from going  _ home _ . 

Jisung gritted his teeth and once again fought with all he had, but no matter what he tried, the stranger’s strength rivaled that of his own. 

After a few minutes of struggling and shouting profanities at the man Jisung figured he had no other option but to use dirty tricks. So as a last resort to free himself, Jisung went for the man’s right arm.

He missed when the man shifted his position just in time to avoid Jisung’s teeth. “Oh for god’s sake Han-really! would you just, calm down?” the man had raised his voice at him, clearly starting to lose his patience with the boy. But Jisung didn’t care, instead, he swung his head around and glared at the man. 

“How do you know my name!” he shouted, but the man didn’t answer, so Jisung asked again, this time he didn’t shout. “Why…” he bit down on his tongue in hesitation, “why do you know my name?” 

The man met his eyes, “I’ll tell you, but only if you promise me that, once I let go, you won’t go and jump off,” he paused and waited for Jisung to answer. “Okay?” his tone was neutral and Jisung had no idea what the man was thinking. 

Jisung looked down at the ground and began to weigh his options, debating whether he should agree or not.

After a while the man emitted something similar to a chuckle, “or we could just sit here and wait for the sun to rise-” 

Jisung violently shook his head and spoke over his shoulder, “okay! okay!”

“Okay what?” he prompted and Jisung let out a frustrated groan. 

_ He’s going to make him say it, isn't he… _ Jisung sighed before speaking. “Fine! I won’t jump, okay? so can you let me go now?” 

The man tilted his head and Jisung felt how the hold loosened a bit. “You promise? because if you run off and try to jump I’ll for real sit here till sunris-” 

“Yes!” Jisung admitted defeat as he uttered two words, “ _ I promise. _ ” Jisung felt the arms withdraw and he quickly got to his feet, taking a step away from the stranger. 

He studied the man for a moment, starting down by his white pointed shoes that looked to be as good as new, except for a few specks of dirt most likely made from their grapple earlier. Jisung’s eyes traveled up the white high waisted suit pants and past long silk fabric tucked in at the front. His eyes lingered on the beautiful blouse before quickly moving his eyes over to the wings, spread out from each side of the man. 

_ Are those…? _ Jisung’s eyes widened,  _ wings. _

They weren’t as large as Felice’s, the angel he had met back in heaven, but they  _ were  _ wings and that was all Jisung’s mind could focus on at the moment. 

_ Is he-no way… but if he really is, what is he doing here? _ Jisung looked down at his hands, turning them to see if anything had changed. “Did I die…?” Jisung muttered to himself.  _ But I’m sure that he grabbed me before jumping, so how-why? _

Jisung’s thoughts were interrupted when the man dropped to his knees and took his held out hands into his own. Oddly enough, Jisung didn’t pull away, he felt like he could trust this person, this  _ angel _ . 

He looked up at Jisung and spoke, sincerity filling his tone. “Han, what I am about to tell you is very important, so I need you to listen. Can you do that for me?” He waited for Jisung to nod before carrying on. “I’m…” he hesitated and exhaled before parting his lips. “I’m a guardian angel,  _ your _ guardian angel, to be exact.” 

Jisung’s eyes widen and he looked down at the man, “you’re my…?” 

The man nodded as he gently stroked his thumbs over Jisung’s knuckles. “I know that this must come as a surprise, but that is the reason why I know your name, Han Jisung.” His eyes swept across the rooftop before falling back to him, a worried crease settling in between his brow. 

“Han listen, I don’t have much time so I’ll have to make this quick.” He said as he let go of Jisung’s hands and got back up on his feet. His pants had gotten a bit stained from kneeling down on the dirty roof but he,  _ Jisung’s own guardian angel _ , didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he took a step closer to Jisung and put his hands on his shoulders. He didn’t shrug them off, trusting that his angel would do him no harm. 

“Han, I understand that you want nothing else but to go back, I really do, but this?” He turned towards the edge where Jisung had, just a few moments ago tried to jump off. “This isn’t the right way to do it,” he said, giving Jisung’s shoulders a light squeeze in comfort, his eyes looked sorrowful when he spoke. “People, Han, who kill themselves… they… they don’t go to heaven.” He paused, allowing Jisung to at least process some of his words before giving him a concerned look. “Do you understand now, why I had to stop you?” He squeezed his shoulders again, this time a bit more urgent and Jisung could tell the angel was getting nervous when he didn’t answer. But he couldn’t say anything, unable to get any words out as he just stared at the angel. He’d just been told he would’ve gone to hell if he had succeeded in taking his own life.

Jisung had lost the ability to sense cold, not his emotions. So of course he was shocked and wasn't sure how to respond. 

He was knocked back to his senses when he felt a gentle hand to his cheek. “I want to help you Han, but you will need to have to trust me, okay?” He lightly stroked his cheek with his thumb before removing his hand, and Jisung was suddenly reminded of his mother. 

The memory made him drop his gaze to his wet shoes, trying to focus on them as his vision became blurred by tears. They wanted to break free from the waterline and one eventually managed to slip, causing the whole dam to burst and tears began falling.

Jisung lifted his gaze and met the angel's eyes again, he didn't care for the tears rolling down his cheek. “y-you’ll really help me?” he choked out, “like really  _ really _ ?” 

The angel smiled and brought both hands up to his cheeks, cupping them as he wiped away his tears. “Of course I will, Han. I only ask of you to have some patience.” He wiped away another tear. “I’ll speak to God so we can arrange something for you.” He smiled at Jisung, it was a sincere smile and he could tell his angel really cared for him. 

He removed one hand and gently stroked Jisung on the head. The gesture felt kind of nice and he even leaned into the touch and closed his eyes.

“So, Han. I promise to speak with God,” he tapped him on the head, making him open his eyes and look at his angel, his smile had faltered a bit and Jisung noticed the hand was gone from his cheek.

“But it  _ will _ take time,” he said as he tapped Jisung’s nose. He flinched in surprise and looked at the angel who chuckled and Jisung let out the tiniest of laughs.

“So, Han, while I’m gone why don’t you enjoy life a bit, maybe make some friends maybe?” He tipped his head to the side and tapped his chin, “that Minho kid seems nice, don’t you think?” Jisung couldn’t tell whether he was joking or being serious.

He shrugged. “Well, not really…” he paused, an image of the boy appeared in his mind and he made a face. “He’s sort of, I don’t know… strange?” Jisung wasn’t sure how to describe the boy. 

He was weird, that’s for sure. And seemed a bit rude, going on how their first meeting had played out. Jisung pouted as he thought back to when Minho had called him ridiculously cute, which to him did not sound like a compliment but more like he was poking fun.

The angel chuckled, holding one hand to his mouth and spoke once he’d finished. “I think you two would get along pretty well,” he said, patting Jisung on the head one more time before taking one step away, backing towards the fire escape ladder. Jisung followed and stood a bit to the side.

Bending down the angel gripped the ladder and swiftly swung around so that he could hold onto the side rail. The angel looked down, probably to make sure he wouldn’t slip before dropping one metal rung down. He stopped though, emitting an “oh,” and Jisung thought he saw the man’s lips form into a sly smile. “Just a tip, remember to block with your right arm, alright?” And then, easing his grip on the metal side rail he slid down the ladder and disappeared beyond the edge. Jisung hurried over to see if he was alright, but the man was gone. He’d vanished into nothing.

Out of curiosity, Jisung turned up towards the sky in hopes to see him soar above, white wings spread out to their true greatness. But no, all Jisung saw was a slightly brighter night sky reminding him that time was still ticking forward.

He took out his phone and watched the lock screen turn on,  _ 03:48, _ read before he locked it again, putting it back in his pocket. He looked down at the fire escape ladder but turned to look over his shoulder, towards where he’d tried to jump. Jisung breathed out and it made his shoulders slump, finally becoming relaxed.

Jisung stayed on the rooftop for a while before he decided to climb down. He had to get down, he wasn’t planning on getting caught on the roof his first day there at the new school. 

The descent down the ladder was anything but fast since Jisung didn’t want to accidentally fall and die. He wasn’t sure if it would be considered suicide since deep down he wanted to die or if whoever was in charge of deciding such things would just rule it as an accident. Either way, Jisung wasn’t planning on taking chances. He held onto the metal rung and dangled there for a bit until he was stable enough to go and drop to the ground. He sighed in relief when both feet touched solid ground. 

He looked up at the ladder, eyes traveling all the way to the top and then, like lightning striking right through him he realized what he had just tried to do. He held one hand over his mouth and let his gaze fall to the ground as he uttered in an almost inaudible whisper. “Did… oh my god, I just tried to…” He didn’t say the last words, only thinking them was enough to make him want to hide away from the world.

Jisung rushed straight back to his dorm, his eyes full of tears, he wasn’t sure whether they were from him crying or if it was because of the wind hitting his face. Probably a bit of both. 

Everything he had bottled up inside himself for the past three months was surfacing, releasing all at once and Jisung couldn’t keep himself from getting overwhelmed. 

He ran through the dormitory entrance and rushed past the common room and back to dorm 17. Jisung choked out a sob as he inserted the key and turned it, the latch making a  _ click _ sound and he bolted through the door, slamming it behind him. 

His breathing was heavy but not from running, but from the sheer amount of emotions wheeling up inside of him, wanting to get out. All the emotions mixed with each other as they got kneaded into a knot in his stomach. 

He sank to the floor, his back leaning up against the door. Jisung brought up his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, tucking his head in between.

Slowly tipping the overfilled glass Jisung broke the surface tension, letting the first teardrop travel down his cheek. Then, flipping the glass the tears spilled out and Jisung began to sob uncontrollably, clutching to his knees as his fingernails dug into the fabric.

_ I'm sorry mom, dad. Seems like I can't go home yet, _ he thought in between sobs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry Jisung!! Seems like the only bad things happen to you... :(
> 
> But wow. An angle and Jisung's own guardian angel on top of that, talk about timing. Who knows what would have become of Jisung had he jumped. pew, thank... God? ha. ha. 
> 
> While I don't agree with the thing he tried to do I guess you could see his reasoning behind his actions.
> 
> (suicide is never the right thing to do btw and I an not in any shape or form saying that it is. Remember, this is fiction)  
> .  
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> Summary: Jisung dreamt of his parents who told him he could come back if he took his life. Jisung then walked from the dorms and over to the school building which is four floors high. He climbed up to the roof using a fire escape ladder. He ran and slipped, causing him to fall on the roof. He failed and tried again. A man grabbed his hoodie and stopped him by holding him down. Turns out that man is an angel, Jisung Guardian angel. Angel tells Jisung that he will go to Hell if he takes his own life and that he (angel) will speak with God to arrange something for him. 
> 
> They talk for a bit and then the angel has to go. Jisung climbs down and runs to his dorm. He cries his eyes out but manages to get into bed (eventually).
> 
> comments, kudos and feedback is always welcome ~


	5. A Real Punch In The Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It went terribly fast, one second Changbin was there, standing right in front of Jisung, mocking him. The next the boy was flying across the hall and into the wall with a loud bang, the impact echoing throughout the quiet sports hall. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late update, this chapter took more time to write than expected so I sat with it all of today so that I could get it done.
> 
> It might have been a bit ambitious of me to think I'd be able to update every week since I have school and stuff. After the holidays I'll try to update every week but it will most likely change to every other week, so that I won't stress about having to write, edit and double check the chapter. I want this to turn out as good as possible and for it to turn out good I will have to have more time.

Jisung slowly sat up in his bed, taking a moment to wake up. He heard the sound of knocking and finally came to his senses.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he lifted the white covers off and pushed himself over the edge of the bed. Feet now touching the floor Jisung realized he was missing one sock but didn’t bother to look for it now. There someone was at the door and Jisung had no idea of how long they'd been trying to wake him up. So he pushed himself out of bed and walked over to the door. 

As Jisung was reaching for the handle he looked over to his right, towards the bathroom. The door was wide open and the mirror showed him a reflection of a just-out-of-bed-Jisung, so he hurriedly patted down his bed head before returning to the door. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pat down the redness of his eyes, so he let them be, hoping whoever was at the door won’t take much notice of them.

Turning the lock Jisung opened the door. He was met with a red tray and on it laid two triangled shaped sandwiches wrapped in plastic foil. Next to the sandwiches stood an empty glass turned upside down. 

He lifted his gaze, and was greeted by a smiling Claudia. A smile pulled at his lips when he realized she had gone out of her way to bring him food. That was kind of her, he thought as he looked at the woman.

Her clothes were different under her black undone jacket and Jisung realized he was still wearing yesterday's clothes, his jeans even a bit dirtied from when he had been up on the roof. 

He saw how she quickly took in his state, just like she had done back when he had shoved Alice out of his room. He met her eyes and she got the hint, refraining from pointing it out. He appreciated that she didn’t. Jisung sort of felt like he could trust the woman and he could see that she was genuinely worried about him, yet allowing him to open up at his own pace.

“Good morning,” she said as she tipped her head a bit to the side, slightly raising her brow, “may I come in?” She held up the tray in a gesture to show that the sandwiches she’d brought were, in fact, for him.

She must have been trying to get in touch with him while he was still asleep. Had she been outside his door all morning, he wondered, and felt a little guilty if that was the case. 

Still, Jisung wasn’t really in the mood for chit-chat but he couldn’t just slam the door in her face. That’d be just plain out rude and would draw unwanted attention. So he nodded and opened the door a bit more so that she could slip through.

He closed the door and watched her from over his shoulder. “I asked Jin to make you some sandwiches. I figured you’d be at least a little hungry…” he didn’t hear the rest as his mind suddenly went into panic. 

On his desk still laid the small note he had written before going to the roof last night.

Jisung quickly shut the door, he couldn’t let her see it. It would make her worry and worry would bring questions he didn’t want to answer. 

“Um… Claudia?” She stopped at the call of her name and turned around, her back now facing the desk. Now he just had to keep her attention away from the desk.

He remembered what he had been told the day before and figured he could use that to control the conversation. “Yesterday, you mentioned something about a test right?” he asked as he walked over to her and forced himself to smile as if curious. “I was just wondering… when I was going to do them and what kind of test it is.” Claudia’s face lit up and Jisung felt a little guilty for lying to her.

He breathed out, he had somehow managed to get her full attention by pretending to be interested in whatever tests they were planning on doing. 

So, while Claudia happily spoke, Jisung took the tray from her hands and placed it onto his desk, covering the note with the tray. 

Jisung didn’t catch much of what she was telling him as he too fixated on the tray and what it was hiding underneath. But he occasionally nodded and hummed in agreement so that she wouldn’t suspect that anything was wrong.

“Okay,” she clapped together her hands, knocking Jisung out of his blank stare at the red tray. “I can see that you’ve been staring at those sandwiches for some time now,” she chuckled at her joke and began heading over to the door. “I’ll see you outside the dormitory in about one and a half, and remember to put on something that’s easy to move around in, okay?” She then paused for a moment as her eyes moved off him and onto something on the floor. She then returned her gaze onto Jisung and gave him a questioning look, making him turn around to see what she’d been looking at.

On the floor laid the two garlic cloves he had tossed onto the floor the night before and he cursed himself for being so careless as he looked back to Claudia. She seemed to consider something for a moment but must have dismissed the thought, because she showed him a kind smile instead. “Just remember to put those in your pockets, just in case, alright?” She waited for him to nod and then opened the door.

At the sound of his door shutting, Jisung let out a sigh of relief as he quickly went over to the desk, lifting the tray off the note. He folded the paper and then ripped it into tiny pieces, but decided to take it one step further. He gathered all the pieces in his hand, stepping into the bathroom. He lifted the toilet lid and threw the paper into the water. Pressing down the button he watched the paper pieces twirled in circles, before being drowned by the water and flushed away to wherever.

He sighed before looking down at himself and his pants. They were dirty and he guessed all of him was as well. So he left the bathroom and found his duffle bag that laid at the end of the bed. He sighed once more when he realized he’d have to unpack it sooner or later, since he was stuck here for who knows how long.

He got out his towel and the smaller bag which held all of his bathroom things. He had to dig a bit but found his gym clothes. Then, digging even more he eventually found a pair of underwear and socks, before going back into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

... 

Jisung looked at himself through the mirror, his hair a mess and eyes red from all the crying. Bringing up his hand he lightly touched the irritated skin beneath his eyes. He let out a low hiss as they stung at the touch. He dropped his hand to the side of the sink and he leaned a bit forward to meet his own eyes through the mirror. 

He had become stronger, no doubt about that, and he couldn’t feel cold anymore. Yet he hadn’t gone and turned straight up immortal either. He could still get hurt, papercuts and eyes stinging from crying all night still a reality for him.

He scoffed in defeat and turned away from the mirror, looking over at the bag he’d placed on the sink. He opened it and took out the filled up bottles. He pulled open the shower’s glass door and placed the bottles onto the small shelf. 

He pulled his hoodie off and stepped out of his pants and underwear, then the one sock he was still wearing. He threw everything into a pile on the floor and stepped into the shower. 

He turned on the water but quickly regretted doing so when the showerhead released scorching hot water onto his bare body.

“Ah! what the-!” He shot the shower an irritated look as he reached out to lower the temperature.

He waited for a moment, checking the water with his hand before stepping into the shower. Still, it took him some time to get used to the heat. 

Jisung could never really get used to the fact that he could still feel warm things like scalding hot water or hot coffee. 

He thought back to what the doctors had told him. They’d dismissed his lack of feeling cold as some kind of nerve or brain damage. Yet, they hadn’t been able to pinpoint as to why he could still feel hot things. 

An image of his Uncle flashed through his mind from when he had gotten angry at the specialist who wanted to do more tests on him, telling her that Jisung was fine. 

He grimaced at the memory and forced himself to shift his attention to the now pleasant warm water instead.

After a while Jisung felt he could finally focus his thoughts on more pressing matters and the many questions filling his mind.

_Guardian angels… does everyone get one or?_ He thought as he grabbed the bottle that read shampoo off the shelf and put some in his hand, bringing it up into his hair. He wondered, maybe only people who’d died and come back to life got one, just like him. He washed out the white foam from his dark hair and reached for the conditioner bottle, again putting some in his hand and bringing it up to his hair. 

His mind continued processing and Claudia appeared in his mind, perhaps he could ask her? _No, that would just be stupid. Then… Alldyn maybe?_ She must know something at least since she knew that Jisung would take back the garlic once he knew that he wouldn’t go to heaven if Minho bit him. 

He got his under the showerhead to wash off the conditioner when suddenly some ran over his face and he got some of the hair product in his eyes. 

He brought down his hands to protect them only to realize that his hands, too, were covered in conditioner. “Oh come on!” he rubbed his eyes but that only made it worse since they were still sore from last night’s crying.

He tilted his head forward and let the water wash off the rest while his eyes stung. He opened the bottle of soap and rubbed it all over himself. 

He played around with the bubbles for a bit. _But Alldyn’s sort of strange though…_ he thought, popping the soap bubble in his hand. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the headmistress, but she felt a bit odd, and Jisung had no idea how she even knew about him and his relation to heaven. He sighed. 

Jisung felt lonely, he had no one to talk to about this and it was slowly eating at him from the inside. He dropped his head and looked at the floor, watching the water go down the drain when a sudden image of his parents crossed his mind and he furrowed his brow. He wanted to cry, _come on Han, don’t cry,_ he told himself, since he knew crying wouldn't make his situation any better.

So he turned off the water and stepped out, grabbing the towel from the hook on the wall and wrapping it around himself. His angel had promised him that he would help him return, he just had to wait and be patient.

His stomach suddenly began to cramp, accompanied by a loud gurgle noise and Jisung only then remembered the sandwiches Claudia had brought him.

So he hurried to dry himself off and pulled on the underwear he’d brought in with him. He skipped putting on the other clothes, thinking he could just put them on in his room anyway. 

He hung the towel over his shoulders and unlocked the door, stepping out from the bathroom, but he let the door stay open, allowing the humid air to air out. 

He dropped his clothes onto the chair and picked up one of the sandwiches. He quickly unwrapped the plastic foil and took the first bite, even closing his eyes when the flavor hit. The cook, Jin, must be really good at what he does to be able to make such a simple sandwich taste so good, he thought as he took another big bite before putting it back onto the tray.

He hurried to pull on his sweatpants and black t-shirt, lastly pulling on his socks so that he could quickly return to the sandwiches. 

He devoured both incredibly fast before getting out his phone to see how much time he had to spare until he was to meet up with Claudia. 

_14:09_ read back at him. Jisung pocketed his phone and turned around, looking at his bags. “Guess I’ll be staying here for a while after all,” he told himself, but that was fine. Because when Jisung’s guardian angel returned he would be able to go back. Go home. 

So he began to unpack his clothes and placed them onto the shelves in the wardrobe. Jisung had only packed t-shirts and a couple of long sleeves but purely for their design and not to keep him warm. He also only brought two hoodies, again, purely for liking the design. 

He felt a smile form on his lips and Jisung was pretty sure his gums were on full display when he found his favorite white shirt. He peeked into the chest pocket and his heart grew warm at the sight of the small squirrel, embroidered into the fabric. Drawing the shirt to his chest he hugged it. He suddenly felt like crying again, but held the tears in. He’s to be out of his dorm and meet up with Claudia in ten minutes at max. There wasn’t time to cry. So he quickly pushed the rest of the clothes into the wardrobe and sighed in frustration when he realized he’d probably have to phone his uncle and ask him when his other things were to arrive.

He closed his bags and placed them by the wardrobe. He figured he might as well head out now so that he wouldn’t risk running late. 

Jisung walked over to the door but as he bent down to grab his shoes he realized he’d forgotten the garlic. So he hurried over and grabbed the two cloves from the floor, where he had left them the night before and put one in each pocket, along with his keys. 

Not bothering to untie his shoes Jisung just pulled them on and unlocked the door. He did a quick check to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything before heading out, locking the door behind him.

...

Just like she had said, Claudia stood waiting outside by the dorm entrance. She looked up from her phone and smiled when she saw Jisung emerge through the door. Her jacket was now closed all the way up and Jisung guessed it was cold and glanced down at himself. His choice of clothing, just a t-shirt and sweatpants, were probably not what someone would typically wear during September. 

“Right on time,” she said as she put away her phone, walking up to meet him halfway. “Were the sandwiches okay?” she asked as she looked towards the direction of the school cafeteria. “Jin wasn’t sure whether you’d like them or not since he doesn’t know what you like…” Jisung shook his head which made the woman go quiet.

“No, no. They were great.” He did his best to assure her that they were in fact very good. He even smiled and for once it was a genuine one, surprising himself when he realized how nice it felt to actually smile. 

While Jisung wasn’t entirely sure what kinds of tests he would be doing and what exactly they were testing, he would be lying if he’d say he wasn’t at least a bit curious.

He walked alongside Claudia and she had, just like every other time they’ve walked outside asked him if he had one in each pocket, to which Jisung had responded by simply taking out both garlic cloves from each pocket.

As they walked Jisung realized that he’d never really considered how large the school actually was, seeing as every time he’d only been out during night hours. Now he could finally see the school's many buildings. They looked old and Jisung guessed the school must have been up and running for quite some time now. 

He turned right and looked towards the main school building, it was large even at a distance and Jisung took notice of how much older the building looked in comparison to all the others. It was probably the first to be built out of all the buildings, he thought as he turned away and looked up ahead to where they were going. 

... 

They were heading towards the gym which was rather close to dorm B, so they didn’t have to walk far. But as they walked along the stone path, Jisung finally saw some students other than Minho. He was surprised to see so many people of different ethnicities. It was an international school, alright, Jisung thought as they walked in the direction of a group of students. 

As they got closer Jisung let his eyes go over the group, but lingered on one of the boys. He thought he looked familiar, but couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly. Then, out of nowhere the boy suddenly swung around and met Jisung’s gaze, as if he knew he was being watched. Then it hit Jisung and his mind put two and two together. 

It was the taller boy he’d met the night before, outside the school building when he arrived. Jisung glanced over at Claudia but she must have not noticed Jisung stopping and only continued walking. Jisung hurried up beside her and as they passed the group Jisung’s field of view shifted and he could now see that the taller boy held his arm around someone. Jisung’s attention traveled over dark hair and bangs that covered their forehead. He met his eyes but the boy quickly looked away and Jisung glanced over at the taller, slowing down his pace to take in the two. 

Unlike their first encounter, the sun was now up and provided light so that Jisung was able to see their faces. He hadn’t been mistaken when he first had seen them, the taller boy was indeed blond and he wore his hair in a short ponytail, some parts in front not long enough to be pulled back so they stylishly framed his face instead. His nape was mostly covered by the hair that had escaped the hair tie. 

The shorter boy removed the arm and grimaced at his friend before looking over at Jisung, this time meeting his gaze. To his surprise, the boy’s irises glowed a hint of yellow. Jisung had to do a double take, thinking it could have just been the sun. But no, they were glowing, not by much but there were indeed traces of yellow in them. Jisung didn’t get to see more than that as the boy suddenly broke their eye contact and looked over at his friend instead. Jisung turned towards Claudia who had stopped a bit up ahead. She must have realized Jisung was no longer walking beside her and stopped.

He hurried up next to her and she began to walk again while watching Jisung with curious eyes before glancing over her shoulder. “Someone you know?” she asked and turned away from him, looking up towards the approaching building. Jisung glanced over at Claudia before answering.

“Not really, just bumped into them the other day, that’s all,” he answered, reaching for the entrance door’s metal handle and pulled it open. He let Claudia enter before him since he didn’t know where they were headed. 

“Hyunjin is in the same year as you and Jeongin's a year under.” she told him as they walked down the hall. She opened her jacket and held it under her arm as she let out a faint chuckle. “Hyunjin can get rather protective of Jeongin, but don’t take it too personally when he tries to stare straight through your soul.” Jisung slowly nodded as followed her around the corner and through already opened doors into a large sports hall. 

A woman in gym clothes stood a bit to the side and when she saw them enter, she waved them over. Claudia smiled at her and walked up next to her, settling a hand on her shoulder, showing a confident smile. Claudia was a bit shorter than the other, but only by a few centimeters.

“This here is Heidi, she’s the gym teacher,” Claudia said as she gestured with her other hand to the woman. Her skin was already fair but, in contrast to the long dark braid resting on her shoulder, she looked even paler. She looked a bit stern with her sharp features and her slim and defined stature. 

Heidi was the polar opposite of Claudia who had softer and more rounded edges in both face and body; the only thing they had in common was the silver cross hanging around each of their necks.

“Heidi, this is Jisung,” Claudia gestured towards his and continued, “he’s the new student I talked about the other day.” 

Heidi held out her hand and Jisung took it. “Hi,” he said as he shook her hand, meeting her eyes. She nodded and gave a kind smile, taking Jisung by surprise. Maybe she wasn’t as stern and harsh as he originally thought.

“Hello Jisung, name’s Heidi and I am, as Claudia said, your gym teacher,” she said, and though it was faint, Jisung could tell she had an accent. If he had to guess, German perhaps?

Still, with or without the accent he had no issue understanding her. She had without a doubt been speaking English for a long time, but accents have a habit of sticking around.

Heidi released his hand and turned to her colleague. “Just like Claudia here, I am an ability user, wielder or whatever you wanna call it…” she said and continued, but Jisung didn’t pay much attention to what she had said next, stuck on what she had just said.

_Ability what now?_ he sent Claudia, who stood next to Heidi, a look of pure confusion but she only watched him with her mouth scrunched up as if trying not to smile.

He looked back at Heidi who’d now gone quiet. She stared at Jisung but then looked over at Claudia standing next to her, she had a nervous smile plastered onto her face and Heidi brought up her hand and pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a low sigh.

“Claudia, you’ve got to be joking,” she sighed, removing her hand and glanced at Jisung, “you know what an ability wielder is, correct?” 

Jisung glanced over at Claudia who shook her head and he did the same. “Um… no?” he wasn’t sure if that was what she’d wanted to hear but it was the truth. Heidi’s eyes dropped to the floor as a crease in her brow began to make its appearance, but quickly disappeared when she suddenly barked out a laugh.

“Oh! right, Alldyn did say-” she cut herself off and swiftly glanced at Claudia. “Right, my bad. I forgot about that,” she patted Claudia on her shoulder as she met Jisung’s eyes. “Usually, when there is a new student, they already know or at least they have an idea of what they are, categories they belong to and so on.” She paused and he saw the two exchange looks before they both turned to him again. “Both Claudia and I fall into the ability category, meaning, well, that we have abilities.” 

She took a step forward and gave him an encouraging smile. “Guess we gotta figure out yours then,” she said as she turned and walked over to Claudia. Her back now facing Jisung she put one hand to her shoulder. “You said he was strong, right?”

Jisung heard Claudia emit a chuckle at her question and he met her eyes as she spoke with an amused smile. “Just ask Alice. She’ll tell you,” she answered and Jisung saw from behind that Heidi’s ears moved a bit. She must have found the comment funny. Jisung only cringed at the memory.

“Jisung, you can wait here while we get the stuff so we can get started with the tests,” Claudia reassured him with a pat on his shoulder and he felt relaxed by the touch. 

He nodded, “okay,” and then Claudia hurried up to help Heidi get whatever they were getting.

... 

Heidi had, in the beginning, been very careful to not overwork him. Making sure that she wasn’t putting on too heavy weights onto the barbell. But as time went on Heidi started to actually challenge him to lift more and more, until he was doing sets with weights twice as heavy as himself. 

“Okay,” Heidi clapped her hands together as she looked at him with a pleased grin. “I think that’s enough for now,” she said, helping him return the barbell back onto the stand so that Jisung could get off the bench. 

He looked over at Claudia who walked over to him and offered him a bottle of water but he gave her an apologetic smile. “Thanks but, I’m not thirsty,” he said and she withdrew the bottle. 

“You’re not?” she looked over at Heidi who shrugged at her. Claudia looked over at Jisung and appeared to be thinking of something before she went over to Heidi and patted her shoulder. “You know, I could call…” Jisung didn’t catch the last part because Claudia had leaned closer and lowered her voice into a whisper.

_Call who?_ Jisung looked away from the two, feeling a bit left out of the conversation. He wanted to ask what they were talking about but Claudia cut him to the chase. 

“I’m just going to make a quick call, so you can take it easy for a few, alright?” She tried giving him a reassuring smile but Jisung didn’t return it, only nodding in response. 

Claudia took out her phone and stepped out of the sports hall, leaving Jisung and Heidi to wait for her. 

Jisung felt extremely awkward where he sat in total silence, praying in his mind for Claudia to return as fast as possible. 

He glanced over at Heidi who stood and watched the door. She then turned and Jisung wasn’t quick enough to look away, accidentally meeting her eyes, she sighed but then smiled at him. “That was some impressive heavy lifting, kid.” She placed one hand on his shoulder and was probably going to praise him more, but instead of words of praise, she withdrew her hand and looked at him with wide eyes. “Damn kid,” she tapped his shoulder again and let out an amused snort. “You’re as dry as a desert.” Her eyebrows rose curiously and she looked to be considering something before speaking again. “Can I just?” she pointed to his wrist and he looked down at it, confusion creating a crease between his brows.

“Sure?” he had no clue what she was planning on doing, but saying no would just be too awkward. 

He hesitantly held out his hand, palm facing up as she took it in her own hand. Then, bringing her other hand to his wrist she settled the first two fingers onto the skin and Jisung now realized what she was doing. Heidi was checking his pulse. 

Jisung looked at the woman. She was concentrating on his wrist and as the seconds ticked away her expression changed into pure amazement. 

She removed her fingers and looked at him with wide eyes. “Your pulse… she looked over at the stand and the barbell and then returned her eyes to him. “Your pulse is way too low from having just bench pressed all of that,” she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. “I gotta say, I’m very impressed,” she lightly patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t tell Jin or he’ll have you helping him carry all the heavy stuff in the kitchen,” Heidi laughed at her own joke and Jisung got flustered by the comment. He wasn’t used to getting praised so he looked the other direction while Heidi kept chunking to herself.

The sound of doors opening echoed through the sports hall had Jisung and Heidi look to the doors. It was Claudia who’d returned, a pleased smile spreading across her face as she walked over to them. 

“Okay Jisung. I’ve asked a student of mine for your last test today,” she paused and waited for him to respond. He nodded, not really sure why she’d needed to call over a student in order to test his strength.

She clapped her hands together and shifted her gaze onto Heidi. Then, looking over her shoulder, she called out towards the open doors. “Changbin, you can come in now.” 

A dark haired boy, dressed in ripped jeans and a black t-shirt entered, walked in with a confident stride. He was wearing a pair of black leather boots which added one or two centimeters to his height. 

As he got closer Jisung realized they were about the same height, including the boots, of course.

Claudia tapped Jisung on his shoulder and nodded towards the approaching boy. “Jisung, this is Changbin,” she explained as she looked over at the other student. “Changbin this is-” she didn’t get further, suddenly interrupted by the boy who had ignored her and was now standing in front of Jisung.

His eyes were fixed on Jisung who met his gaze. He saw how the boy peered at him in a mischievous manner before parting his lips. 

“Hello Mister _ridiculously_ cute,” he said, in an almost mocking tone. Then, still holding Jisung by his gaze he threw out his arms in a dramatic gesture. “Welcome to Fowle’s boarding school for the gifted, or as everyone else likes to call it, the _freak_ school.” The boy even sneered at him, “wanna fight?”

_What? fight? freak school-?_

Someone stepped in between them, blocking the other from Jisung’s view, breaking their eye contact. He looked to the side and saw Heidi smile as she watched the scene play out.

“Changbin,” Claudia’s tone held a certain degree of impatience and Jisung guessed this was normal for the two since Heidi was able to watch them with such an unbothered expression. 

He returned his attention to Claudia and took a step to the side, so he could get another glimpse at the boy. 

“Changbin, I didn’t ask you to come here so that you can test your strength,” she said, turning to meet Jisung and showing him an apologetic smile. She said a silent apology before turning to her colleague. “Heidi, can you get them a pair of boxing gloves?” 

Jisung looked at her in surprise, “boxing gloves?” he asked in a whisper.

Changbin seemed to be mumbling something to himself as well and Jisung glanced over at the boy, thinking he was also shocked to hear they were going to be boxing.

But instead of raised eyebrows and a frown of confusion, Jisung saw how the corner of Chanhbin’s lips curled into a sly smirk and Jisung was sure he heard him whisper something about it being “no fun,” and “one punch at least.” 

He felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Claudia and she stood in front of him, blocking Changbin out of view again. “You’ll be fine,” she said, trying to reassure him. 

She waved over Heidi who had returned with a pair of boxing gloves in each hand. She handed Claudia a blue pair and then went over to Changbin who took the red pair, putting them on with ease. This was clearly not the first time he had put on boxing gloves.

“...sung, your hand.” He returned his attention back to the woman standing in front, but he didn’t respond. She must have noticed his uneasiness, casting a glance over to where he had looked, then back at him again as she hummed in understanding. “You are not boxing for real,” she told him and tapped his hand. He held it out so that she could help him get on the first glove. She tightened the lace, his hand now surrounded by padding.

He slipped his other hand into the glove other as he looked at the one already tied to his hand, uncertainty settling in between his brow.

The feeling of the lace getting tightened made him look at Claudia and she met his eyes with a gentle smile. “You will be fine, these are just so that you wouldn't accidentally hurt him,” she said, patting the blue boxing gloves. “Alright then,” she said and turned towards Heidi and Changbin, calling out to them. “He’s ready.” 

... 

“Okay, so you’ll want to hit me around this area, right here,” he explained and gestured to his jaw. Then, bringing down his right arm he continued, “and then you’ll go from here and up.” Changbin punched through air and Jisung could tell he was strong when he felt the small wind created by the punch. 

Jisung looked over at the two women who stood a bit to the side. Heidi sent him a big smile and thumbs up of encouragement while Claudia just smiled.

He turned back to Changbin, he was already standing with both arms held up in a blocking position and had changed into a wider stance where he stood, looking straight at Jisung. 

“Hit me whenever you feel ready…” he said and Jisung saw the corner of his mouth curl into a mocking smirk as he lowered his voice to a whisper. “ _Pretty boy_.”

It went terribly fast, one second Changbin was there, standing right in front of Jisung, mocking him. The next the boy was flying across the hall and into the wall with a loud bang, the impact echoing throughout the quiet sports hall. 

He had punched him, just like he had been told to do. He aimed for his jaw which Changbin had protected with his hands. Yet somehow Jisung had used so much force the boy flew into the wall a few meters away.

Jisung panicked, worried that he’d have accidentally hurt Changbin. He saw his shoulders move up and down as if crying. Maybe he was just bark and no bite, he thought as he began making his way over to the boy. But the closer he got the more confused he became. The boy, Changbin, was not crying. In fact, it was the opposite he realized. Changbin was laughing.

He got back to his feet and shot Jisung a wicked smile. “Damn! wasn’t expecting you to be _that_ strong.” Changbin rolled his shoulders and spat out blood as he looked at Jisung with an amused grin. “Hey!” he called out as he began walking towards Jisung, his hands held up in a fighting position. “It’s not really fair if only you get to have fun,” he said as he pushed away with one foot, picking up the pace. “Think you can take a punch?” he asked but didn’t wait for Jisung to answer as he got closer.

An image of his guardian angel appeared in his mind, suddenly recalling he had told him before departing. _To block with his arm_ , but which Jisung didn’t have time to remember. 

When Changbin was one step away from him he pulled his arm back, readying himself for the punch.

Jisung didn’t have time to react and felt the boxing glove connecting with his chin. He didn’t see much, only catching a glimpse of a pair of eyes, burning like fire set ablaze before closing his own in reflex. 

Jisung heard Claudia let out a scream of worry when he flew across and hit the floor with a painful groan. He slowly got up on his elbows, opening his eyes to see white stars disorienting his vision while his ears rang. 

“What the fuck…” he murmured to himself when he felt something warm and wet run over his lips. He recognized the taste and brought up one hand to his nose, wiping it off. Dark spots of blood stained the blue leather and Jisung scoffed in surprise.

The ringing in his ears ceased and the white spots disappeared when he felt a hand on his upper arm. It was Claudia who’d rushed over to him but this time Jisung didn’t feel calmed by her touch, no, he was pissed.

“Jisung are you alright?” she asked in a worried tone as helped him up on his feet. She said something to Heidi, but Jisung didn't hear. Instead, he looked over at the boy who stood a few meters away. Their eyes met and Changbin sent him a teasing grin. That was it, Jisung wanted to punch the guy and he was going to. The fight was on, he thought.

So, when Jisung felt he had regained his balance he tore himself from Claudia’s hold and darted towards Changbin. He widened his stance and held up his arms, preparing to block the incoming punch. 

Jisung pulled back his left arm, not holding back his strength. He had so much frustration piling up inside of him and this was an opportunity to let it all out. Jisung shifted all his weight onto one foot and pushed away, gathering as much power as possible. His eyes fixed on the Changbin’s stupid grinning face. 

Pain shot through his right arm immediately after he’d struck the boy. He had somehow been faster than Jisung, first blocking his punch before landing one of his own. But Jisung, on reflex, had brought up his right arm to meet the red glove. He felt a smile pull on his lips, thinking this must have been what his guardian angel had meant. His smile quickly faded when he saw the red glove fill his vision and he shut his eyes, bracing for the punch. 

Instead of feeling a punch in the face, Jisung heard a frustrated groan, making him open his eyes in confusion. His feet suddenly felt light and they were no longer on the floor. Both of them were a few meters off ground and Jisung looked around in a panic, he saw Heidi watching them with a concentrated expression with her arms held up as if holding onto something. 

“Okay, okay! I won’t do it again!” Changbin called, but Heidi didn’t budge from her stance, still holding them up with whatever she was doing. 

Changbin quickly turned to Jisung, his eyebrows raised like he was waiting for him to do something. “What?” Jisung asked, confused as to what the boy wanted. Changbin nodded to Heidi and then back to Jisung who still had no idea what he was trying to say. Changbin clicked his tongue and mouthed the words, _say sorry_ and Jisung now understood what he was expected to do. 

“I won’t do it again either,” he pledged and looked down at Heidi who nodded at him before slowly lowering her hands. 

When his feet finally were on solid ground Jisung looked to Claudia who walked over to him. She helped him off with the blood stained gloves. 

This time her touch had its usual calming effect and Jisung felt his frustration subside, returning to normal. Well, if anything about him could still be considered normal, he thought. 

He sighed, wiping off some of the blood still running from his left nostril but was stopped by Claudia. “Here, do it like this,” she said, tilting his head forward and guiding his hand up to his nose. “Pinch right,” she moved his thumb and index so that they were just above his nostrils. “You will have to hold that for a few minutes.” Claudia gently patted him on the back, “we’ll go ask Jin if he has some ice you can use.” 

Claudia turned to look at Changbin who was walking over to them. He stopped in front of Jisung and held out his hand to him. He wasn’t wearing the red boxer gloves anymore. Jisung met his eyes and Changbin smiled as if they hadn’t just been trying to beat each other up. 

“That was fun, we have to have a rematch…” Changbin paused before snapping his finger. “Right! _Han_ Jisung, was it?” He took a second to respond. How on earth did Changbin know his whole name?

“Y-yeah,” Jisung glanced over at Claudia standing next to him. He was sure he’d heard her when she had introduced him. He looked back to Changbin. Claudia had never, not even once, mentioned his whole name. So how was it that Changbin knew, he wondered.

Jisung met Changbin’s eyes, he was staring at him with searching eyes, tilting his head to one side before giving up. “Are you an airhead or something?” 

Jisung furrowed his brow at the comment. “I-I’m sorry, what?” he asked, thinking there was so way anyone would ask someone a question like that. 

“Well,” Changbin began, “you’re either an airhead with nothing going on inside of there,” he tapped his own temple and chuckled when Jisung shot him an irritated look. “But, judging by how offended you look, you’re probably cursing me inside your mind right now.” 

He took a step closer and his expression suddenly changed, giving Jisung a serious look. “You’re too distant. I can’t read yours,” he said in a whisper before turning to Claudia. They exchanged a mutual look of concern while Jisung could only watch them in confusion. 

_What is he talking about? Distant how?_ Jisung felt left out from the conversation. He wanted them to explain, so he turned to Claudia and she met his gaze. She gave him an apologetic look and he realized she wasn’t going to tell him.

He looked to Changbin who just shrugged at him and Jisung dropped his gaze to the floor.

Heidi loudly cleared her throat, breaking the silence. Jisung turned to her and saw her carrying a brown paper bag. She met his eyes and handed over the bag which looked to be quite heavy. Still, he had no problem taking it from her hands and placing it on the floor. He removed his hands from his nose and crouched down to look inside.

Inside laid several schoolbooks and Jisung looked to Heidi. She showed him a pleased smile and looked at Claudia with a soft expression. “She’s the one who got them from you,” she said, Changbin turned to her with a scrutinizing look. Jisung thought he could just talk with Claudia about what Changbin had meant at a later date and looked down at the books.

The covers appeared glossy under the sports hall's light and were clearly brand new. Jisung guessed they were quite expensive as well.

Changbin peeked into the paper bag and then turned to look at Claudia in surprise. “You didn’t get him these, his Uncle did,” he said, turning back to Jisung. “Your Uncle must really love you, paying from all of this,” Changbin said as he picked up one of the books, the words _The Supernatural Phenomena_ read the white letters across the cover. “And they’re brand new too!” he exclaimed while flipping through the pages.

Jisung tore the book from Changbin who shot him a surprised frown. “Hey-” Jisung ignored him and just glared at Claudia. 

“My Uncle paid for these?” he asked and picked up the paper bag from the floor. Claudia shot Changbin a dirty look before meeting Jisung's eyes.

Her expression turned worrisome, “well…yes he did, but-” 

“Then I don’t want it,” he interrupted, holding out the paper bag for Claudia to take, he wasn’t planning on accepting the books, now that he knew who’d bought them.

Jisung had, ever since waking up at that hospital three months ago, despised his Uncle. But for what exact reason he had no idea, Jisung only knew that ever since waking up his whole body would feel disgusted, sickened even, at the mere thought of his Uncle, and had Claudia known this, she’d probably taken the books back in a heartbeat.

She didn’t take back the paper bag, because why would she? Jisung hadn’t told her of his hatred towards his Uncle. He probably just looked like an ungrateful teenager wanting to rebel against his parents. An image flashed through his mind at the thought. 

_Parents_ echoed in his mind and his eyes began to sting. _Did he use some of mom and dad’s will money to buy these?_ he thought, looking down at the bag in his hand. He wanted to throw them away, yet couldn’t. Because, if his Uncle really had bought them using his parents’ money then there was no way Jisung could bring himself to throw them away. 

He didn’t meet Claudia’s gaze but he could feel her eyes on him as he turned to Heidi. “Actually,” he began, forcing himself to crack a smile at her, “I’m a little tired from today’s workout, so I think I’ll just head back to the dorms and rest for a bit.” Heidi clearly knew he was lying since he’d earlier told her the exact opposite when asked about it. Jisung met Claudia’s eyes. She was still watching him with a concerned expression. “I-I…” his voice wasn’t steady and the look he was getting from Claudia wasn’t helping. He looked over his shoulder and towards the exit as a cover to decide on what to say so that he could leave as fast as possible. 

“Um…” he glanced at his hand, there was a little blood under his fingernails from when he’d wiped away the blood from his lip. 

He looked down to the floor, avoiding Claudia’s eyes. “I-I don’t think I need any ice since the bleeding has already stopped,” he mumbled and took a small step backwards. He awkwardly grabbed onto the handles of the back and picked up the paper bag, returning the book Changbin had flipped through into it. 

Claudia took a step forward, a crease in between her brow made by worry. “Are you sure? I can walk you back, just in case-” Jisung took another step away. 

“No!” he winced, he’d accidentally raised his voice at the woman who was only trying to help him. But he didn’t want her help, not now at least. “No, no I’m fine. I just need some rest before class, that’s all,” he said, backing away, one step at a time.

“You don’t have class until eight thirty-” Claudia became quiet when Heidi placed a hand to her shoulder.

“It’s alright,” she told her colleague and looked at Jisung. “Shove some toilet paper up your nose or something if it starts bleeding again,” she patted Claudia’s shoulder, “Claudia will bring you something to eat before class starts, so you go rest kid.” She sent him a kind smile, “you did good.”

Jisung nodded his thanks to the woman and turned to Changbin. “See ya,” was all he said to the boy before heading to the exit, leaving the sports hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changbin has entered chat !! Oh, you have no idea how much I've been looking forward to writing their first meeting. ~  
> Heidi's pretty cool though. She kind of has an easy-going personality while Claudia has more of an "worried mother" sort of vibe to her. 
> 
> But finally Jisung got to see some students other than just Minho, am I right ~
> 
> Kudos, comments and feedback is always appreciated


	6. Uninvited Guests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The knocking was making him nervous and he could feel his heart beating hard in his chest as it went along with the fast rhythm. He clenched his fist and felt them grow sweaty. The loud noise was stressing him out and he wanted it to just stop, cursing whoever was behind the door in his mind. Would you just shut u-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHH it's so nerve racking to post a new chapter !!  
> I AM SO SORRY! I know I AM LATE but hear me out. I was busy with Christmas and stuff, so can ya blame me? (yes, yes you can)  
> I've been trying to figure out how I want this story to play out, because yes, my dumbass did not prepare this whole thing to the T, so now that is taking some of my time. But I had it coming. Like we say in Sweden, "som man bäddar får man ligga" (basically reap what you sow) and while I do have most of the story planned out, some parts need a lot of fixing. 
> 
> I have some personal things going on at the moment, my ocd be acting up and shit, but I’m not planning on abandoning this story so don't worry :)) 
> 
> Also, I’m not going to lie, this chapter was hella difficult to write for some reason. I've rewritten it like 5 times and if I’m being honest, not the best I’ve written. But I hope you enjoy it anyway. (there might be some spelling errors, oof)

Exhausted. 

Exhausted was all Jisung could think as he ignored the faint sound of something dropping to the floor when he got the key out of his pocket. He wasn’t going to put down the brown paper bag just to pick up whatever had escaped his pocket. He wanted to just get back to his dorm and be alone. 

Sighing, Jisung brought the key into the silver lock, inserting it into the small opening he turned it, making the mechanism reposed with a _click_. But as he went to press down the handle, something suddenly snapped in his mind and he stopped mid-action. 

Like striking a match ablaze, Jisung’s mood suddenly flared up like fire and he saw tunnel vision as anger began to boil from deep within him, forcing his whole body to tease up and pulse to shoot through the roof. And before he knew it, Jisung had slammed the door open, ramming it into the empty bookcase standing in the right corner of his dorm with a loud _bang_ as it became the victim of his sudden anger. 

Then, slamming it back into its wooden frame, Jisung cringed at the annoying loud sound it produced and cast an accusatory look towards, as if the door was at fault for his sudden fit of anger. But of course it wasn’t, and Jisung already knew that as he let his eyes fall to the thing in his hand. The brown paper bag itself wasn’t the perpetrator, but rather, what was in it. 

Books, filling it to the brim. Books Jisung’s _uncle_ had gotten for him; they were the true source of his frustration.

Jisung grimaced as he pushed off his shoes, mumbling to himself about his stupid uncle and why he had to send him to the school. He stumbled and couldn't quite keep his balance, the bag making the simple act of taking off his shoes difficult, and Jisung grew irritated at the bag's presence. It was reminding him of his relative. Jisung didn’t like that. So, tossing it to the floor, Jisung, for an instant, felt like he finally had more room to breathe.

He looked at the bag when it landed on the floor, and of course the thing wouldn’t let him live in peace. Not being able to balance its own weight, the bag fell over as soon as it hit the floor, spilling out the books.

 _Great_ , Jisung thought as his shoulders slumped and he let out a sigh, placing his hands to his face in defeat. He wasn’t angry anymore. He was disappointed in himself. He realized he had lashed out on the door, the bag and its books; even on Claudia. 

He felt shameful as he removed his hands to look at the mess in front of him. It could have easily been avoided, had he not thrown it, but he didn't know what else he could have done. The thought of his uncle made him feel things and the hate towards the man was eating at him from the inside.

Jisung sighed another time and dragged himself over to the mess. “Let’s just get this over with,” he muttered and sank to his knees. He began picking up the books scattered about his floor. Starting with the ones closest to him, Jisung gradually worked his way to the ones that had gone the furthest, and one after the other, he returned them into the brown bag. 

All except for one. 

The thick white letters running across a plain dark blue cover that spelled the words _The Supernatural Phenomena,_ had caught Jisung’s attention even back at the sports hall when Changbin had taken it out to flip through. He had found it to be unusual and strange, to say the least. The book had no pictures like the other school books had. Nothing that gave Jisung even the slightest hint of its contents. Just white text on a dark blue background, and nothing else. 

Keeping the book in his hand, Jisung got up from his knees and looked to his bed. The wrinkled sheets gave away that he’d forgotten to make it before leaving earlier that morning. He didn’t bother to fix it before throwing himself onto the mattress. 

After using his hand to smooth out the wrinkles, Jisung grabbed the book he’d put aside and held it up and away from him as he hummed a short, low tone. _“The supernatural phenomena_ ,” Jisung read out loud to himself, his thumb gently brushing over its sleek surface as he stared at it for a moment, taking it in. The material reflected some of the light coming from the ceiling lamp, giving it a sheen look when he turned it in his hands. He carefully bent it and watched the light travel across the dark blue cover like a wave. _Or clouds traveling across a dark night sky,_ he thought and closed his eyes.

He thought back to the other night. The sky had been of a similar dark blue shade and Jisung couldn’t help but to be reminded of the pure desperation he had felt at the time. His heart racing at the thought of going back to his parents, without knowing that jumping would bring him to hell. _Had the stars known?_ he wondered, _had they been watching, mocked him for almost going to hell?_

Feeling his lower lip quiver, Jisung let out a tense snort. He felt ridiculous, it was just a book. A mere, simple book, yet the feelings it evoked inside of him were anything _but_ simple. They were complicated, messy; tangled into a massive ball of feelings and emotions, making it impossible for him to disassemble as threads of love and hatred entangled around his heart, and if Jisung as much as tries to pull on either end, it would ache. 

He opened his eyes. Jisung wanted the book out of his sight, to just throw it away so that he’d never have to see it again.

Yet, he couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. The uncertainty of whether his Uncle had really paid for the books using his parents' money made it impossible for him to get rid of them. Because if it was with his parents’ money, then Jisung would like to hold onto them until he was back in heaven again. 

But...

If it was his Uncle’s money, then Jisung wouldn’t have to think twice before throwing them away.

He sighed loudly, and once again stared up at the book he was holding. It was a painful reminder of his new miserable life, and the want to just scream and let everything spill out was beginning to become too much, overwhelming him.

But remaining silent, Jisung continued to just gaze up at the book as everything around him began to feel so _crowded_ . The room, his thoughts, _everything_ felt so cramped, yet at the same time, he felt so empty and hollow. There was so much space taken up by the void in his heart that there was no space left for him. For Jisung. 

He didn’t bother to try and resist the tears as they slowly began to creep forth, flooding his eyes as his vision turned into a blur. He needed some sort of outlet for all of the emotions he was feeling, but with a mind full of thoughts making a mess, Jisung couldn’t think of one as he brought the book down to his chest.

When the first tear managed to break free, the rest just followed in a stream down his temples, and Jisung suddenly brought the stupid book closer, hugging it tightly to his chest. At that moment it didn’t matter whether it was his Uncle who had gotten it for him, for he just needed to hold onto something so that he wouldn't fall into despair, and the book had been the closest thing he had. 

Pressing the book closer to his chest, Jisung rolled to his side and went in on himself, curling into a ball as small as physically possible. The book cut into his fingers when it curved under the pressure but Jisung couldn’t find it in himself to really care, his internal pain much greater than some mere papercut. 

When the book finally gave in to his hold and bent completely, Jisung began to shake and sob uncontrollably. The distortion in his mind and heart hurt so much he didn’t know what else to do but cry.

“ _Mom…dad…”_ Jisung desperately choked out in between hectic sobs that turned his pleads into nothing but a mess of incoherent mumbles. He pressed his knees closer to his chest, causing the now bent book to get even closer, pushing up against his ribs. _It hurts_ , was the only thing Jisung could think, and then, he lost all control over his breathing.

His whole body had grown taut from all the shaking, and no matter how much he tried telling himself to relax, his body wouldn’t obey. His head felt like it was going to explode as he tightened his hold on the book, the edge stabbing into him like a knife each time he took a winded breath. But despite the throbbing pain forming around his ribs, the need for air was greater and Jisung made an effort to open his mouth so that he could take a deep breath. But poor timing had him only able to suck in little to no air, before failing to keep down a high pitched sob as it forced its way past his lips. 

He hurried to bring one hand to his mouth, muffling the broken sobs. It didn’t do much and Jisung, afraid someone might hear him, buried his head into the mattress as new tears began streaming down his cheeks, following the faint paths made by previous ones, joining the small patch of tears on the bedsheets.

Mind a mess, Jisung could not think, he just felt _everything._ From his head pulsating to the beat of his heart hammering inside his chest and to the numbness of his fingers going around the book. 

Beyond his uncontrolled sobs, Jisung could hear nothing except for the thundering sound in his ears. He tried focusing on it, going with its rhythm as a means to calm himself. But the lack of oxygen was beginning to make him dizzy and Jisung couldn’t get himself to focus on anything, as everything began to morph. The rhythm in his ears turned into ringing, making him feel numb as his whole body gradually became light, and he felt like he was going out of his body. 

Then, at a moment of clarity, one single thought crossed Jisung’s mind. _Perhaps I’m dying_ , he thought as he fell into empty darkness.

... 

Jisung groaned when he finally came to. He slowly opened his eyes and squinted when light pierced them. He guessed it was a lamp, and it took him a minute to get used to its light. 

After a moment, Jisung finally remembered what had happened, and he allowed himself to sink into the mattress. But to his surprise, Jisung’s bed had turned hard like stone, and confused as to why his bed had suddenly turned hard, he began feeling around with his hands. 

Expecting his fingertips to run along pleasant fabric, Jisung furrowed his brow when he felt solid ground, grimacing when grime made its way in between his fingers. _Strange_ , he thought and removed his hands off the hard bed and placed them on his stomach. 

There they rested, going up and down to the rhythm of his now much more controlled and slowed breathing. _Up…and…down,_ he thought, turning his head to his right. 

Dark wooden legs filled Jisung’s view, and he hummed to himself once he became aware of his current resting place. He guessed he’d fallen off the bed when he passed out, the possibility being most likely since, after all, he had been laying rather close to the edge. 

But rather than pushing himself up and off the ground, Jisung just laid there and looked once more back up at the ceiling, sighing heavily as he stretched out his arms as if imitating a star. 

He felt tired, _exhausted_ from all the crying, but despite that, he felt better, the ringing in his ears was gone and his hearing had returned back to normal. The only thing being troublesome was the _thuds_ pounding in his head that he guessed was a headache creeping forth. 

He turned away from the ceiling and looked to his left, and towards the door. _That’s odd…,_ he thought. It sounded like the hammering wasn’t coming from inside his head, but rather, the door.

A set of _thuds_ made their way into his ears, and when realization hit Jisung was up on his elbows in the split of a second. It wasn’t a headache making his head pound, it was his door. The muffled sounds coming from it had him go into alert, his eyes wide and body all tense as he directed all his attention towards the door, his heart beating so hard one could have mistaken it for the knocking coming from it.

A second set of hurried knocking on the door, so fiercely it got it to actually shake, had Jisung shoot up to his feet. Something felt off, and while yes, he had little to no idea of how long he’d been passed out for, and this could just be Claudia bringing him food, but something within Jisung was telling him that whoever was standing on the other side of his door was _not_ the woman holding a red tray of food.

Mumbles came from behind the door, but being too far away, Jisung heard no words. But even if he did not hear what was said, one thing was clear. The voices were too deep to be that of a woman and Jisung kept his gaze fastened on the door. _This isn’t Claudia_ , he thought and took a careful step forward. 

A third time, the person produced another set of knocking so hard the wood shook, and taking a step as silently as he could, Jisung proceeded to slowly make his way towards the door and whoever was behind it. 

In order for him to be as quiet as possible, Jisung refrained from lifting his feet off the floor, and instead, using his socks, sort of slid across the room as he kept his gaze aimed straight at the door.

The knocking was making him nervous and he could feel his heart beating hard in his chest as it went along with the fast rhythm. He clenched his fist and felt them grow sweaty. The loud noise was stressing him out and he wanted it to just stop, cursing whoever was behind the door in his mind. _Would you just shut u-_

He didn’t get to finish that thought when something suddenly collided with his left foot and he winced as a rustling sound, similar to that of paper, made the loud _thuds_ come to an abrupt stop.

Jisung didn’t have to look down to know it was the brown paper bag he'd left lying on the floor that he had walked into, and he cursed himself for not putting it aside.

 _“Ha! I knew it!”_ suddenly yelled the person behind the door and Jisung’s eyes widened in surprise. He knew that voice. _Why’s he here?_ Jisung thought, glaring at the door.

The bag rustled when removed his foot, and stepping over it, Jisung abandoned the quiet walk and hurried over to the door. He brought his hand up to the handle, but instead of pushing it down, Jisung sighed as his brow drew down in an irritated manner. “What do you want, Changbin!” he asked, yelling through the door separating them.

For a moment there was only silence, and feeling irritated Jisung opened his mouth to curse the boy for not answering. But when he took a deep breath someone suddenly spoke, putting Jisung’s action to a halt. 

“Well, actually, there’s something Changbin would like to say to you,” said a much deeper voice and it had Jisung quickly withdrawing his hand from the door handle as he looked at it in confusion.

He recognized the first voice, its owner being, without a doubt, the student who’d hit him so hard he got a nosebleed, Changbin. Pain shot through Jisung's nose when the memory of the boy and a red pair of boxing gloves crossed his mind, and he winced, scrunching his face.

The second voice, though, was one Jisung did not recall having heard before during his short stay of two days at the school. Suspicion rose and he peered at the door before him. Who had Changbin brought? he wondered.

He took a moment to think about it, and after weighing his options, Jisung called out to Changbin through the door. 

“What do you want, Changbin!” he yelled, putting his ear up against the wooden door. After all, this was his room and he could eavesdrop on whoever he wanted, Jisung thought, pushed even closer when he heard someone scoff and click their tongue. He was almost certain it had been Changbin who’d made the irritated sound, and leaning even further, Jisung heard talking.

“ _Can’t I just apologize through the door or something? It’s embarrassing to say it face to face_ ,” Changbin complained in a low whisper but was quickly shut up at the sound of a hand hitting skin. “ _Ah!-what was that for?_ ” Changbin hissed, and Jisung couldn't resist letting a snort slip as an image of Changbin getting hushed entered his mind.

There came a loud sigh once Changbin had stopped complaining and Jisung could tell it came from the other, the stranger. He wanted to tell them off, get them to stop bothering him, and he would have, had it not been for the other speaking first. 

“Jisung?” he asked, his tone held worry as he spoke. “Changbin told me he felt really bad for what happened and he wants to apologize.”

Jisung wasn’t sure whether he should open the door or not. The safest option would be to just step away from the door and wait for them to leave. Yet somewhere in the depths of Jisung’s mind was a voice of curiosity, a part of him wanted to just reach out to the door and unlock it. _No, I shouldn't_ , he thought and backed away from the door.

“If you let us in I’ll tell ya what Claudia meant back at-” Changbin didn't get to finish his sentences as Jisung pretty much leaped onto the door handle, unlocking the door with a quick hand before pulling it open so fast it created a slight wind, making both his and the other two’s hair move. 

Before Jisung stood a crossed armed Changbin flashing him a stupid grin as he let out an amused scoff. “That was easy,” he said, looking into the room before meeting Jisung’s eyes. But instead of more gloating coming from Changbin, he raised one brow and showed an actual look of concern as he leaned up against the doorframe, crossing his arms. “Damn man, did I really hit you _that_ hard?” he asked, but before Jisung even had time to gather a response, let alone speak it, Changbin’s figure was suddenly obscured as a fair haired boy with freckles got in front of him and looked at Jisung with wide eyes.

“Oh my god! are you alright?” he worriedly asked, an Australian accent coating his words as he brought both hands to Jisung’s cheeks and cupped them so gently he almost didn’t feel them at all. 

At first, Jisung wanted to slap the small hands off him and to shove Changbin and his strange friend out the door, as one would usually do when a stranger cups one's face. But rather than doing so, Jisung let them stay as the boy’s hands felt warm against his skin. He felt himself relax as the strange boy turned his head to look at something, he didn’t bother to ask what it was that he was looking for or at, too caught up on the sensation around his round cheeks. It felt nice. A warm, comforting feeling wrapping around his aching heart like a soft blanket. Finding its way into Jisung’s most fond memories, encouraging them to come forth from the depth of his mind and up to the surface.

 _Soft and caring, just like mom’s_ , he thought as a wave of images of his mother suddenly flooded his mind, memories moving like short snippets of a movie had Jisung’s eyes prick and the feeling of tears wanting to push forward became too much to bear. 

“Oh shi- hey, hey,” the boy cooed as he brought Jisung’s face up, meeting his eyes. Or at least that’s what Jisung guessed the boy was trying to do, but he wasn’t quite sure as everything looked clouded, burred together by the tears welling up in his eyes. 

It was painful, to think of his parents, and any reminder of them had Jisung’s heart aching in his chest. It hurt, knowing that he was still wandering the earth without them, still breathing, still alive.

He managed to meet the boy’s worried eyes before letting them drop to his mouth. It was moving, forming words that didn’t reach Jisung, the ringing was back in his ears, turning all sound into an empty, muffled silence. The pleasant, warm feeling to Jisung’s cheeks was suddenly torn away as black spots began to fill his vision. Legs going numb, Jisung realized he was about to lose consciousness. But as he saw the fair haired boy get pulled away by a distressed looking Changbin, Jisung understood something wasn’t right. 

The ringing turned into dead silence, and as Changbin entered his view again, this time coming towards him, everything dissolved into an empty void of darkness.

... 

Darkness surrounded him where he stood and everywhere he looked, Jisung would only be met with more dark, empty space. It was making him wonder, how far did the empty void stretch? Did it reach a horizon just as dark, or was he standing in a mere unlit room? Jisung let his mind wander and come to whatever conclusion it wanted to come to.

Then, a thought crossed his mind. _Maybe it’s my heart_ , whispered his innervoice, and Jisung dropped his gaze to the floor, or maybe it was the ground? It was so dark he wasn’t sure anymore and it was conflicting to say the least. 

Feeling a crease in his brow, Jisung lifted his head and brought one hand up to his chest. He placed it to his left pec and focused on the organ beating behind ribs. It was there, hammering hard as it pushed blood into his veins, keeping him alive, reminding him that he was alive. 

Jisung sighed as he let his hand drop back to his side. He had to stop thinking about it all the time, or else he would become desperate again, and he didn’t want that. There was no way Jisung would allow himself to mess up and end up in hell.

 _Never_ , Jisung repeated in his mind as he began walking, steps soundless as they met the ground. Leave, he just wanted to leave this empty dark place. He didn’t want to be there anymore, it was suffocating, no place for him to linger, no space left for him.

After minutes of walking, or maybe it was hours, Jisung wasn’t sure, he reached no exit, just more dark nothingness. Worry filled his chest, and Jisung felt his pulse increase. _Where’s the exit- there should be an exit!_ Jisung accused his vacant heart as he turned and looked, searching for something other than pitch black.

Worry settled as a lump in his throat as he forced his legs to move. There had to be an exit, Jisung was sure of it. He just had to find it. 

With soundless steps, Jisung shifted from his brisk walk into a full on sprint, yet there was no wind to catch his hair when he ran, the only thing that changed was Jisung’s breath quickening. He wanted to scream, yell out his frustration at the never ending darkness before him. But just like his footsteps, Jisung's voice was soundless. He couldn’t scream, he couldn’t speak; just think. 

“Are you perhaps lost?” asked a voice, it was clear like glass as it echoed through the darkness. It startled Jisung, being the only sound breaching through the thick fog in his heart, and he swung around to look for who it was. He looked out into the vast black nothing and saw nothing, no one who the voice could belong to.

“Think smaller, boy,” said the voice, and Jisung, without a second thought, did as asked and looked down. Dark spots scattered over light grey fur with a tint of ochre stood by Jisung’s feet and he instantly recognized the animal. It was the same bengal cat he’d seen back when he’d first arrived at the school. But when he saw it last, Jisung was sure he hadn’t heard it talk. 

He was going to ask why the cat was there with him, and how on earth it had the ability to speak. But opening his mouth to ask, Jisung remembered his voice was soundless, and the cat must have known this too because it let out a noise similar to a chuckle.

“There is nothing to be said, boy,” snickered the cat as it went to stand beside Jisung, moving its tail so that it brushed against his leg. The cat hummed, “it is rather dark in here, but think you’ll manage?” Asked the cat, it didn't wait for Jisung to respond as it began walking away from him in a strut, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

_How am I supposed to make myself wake up? That’s like asking me to control the weather-_

“Boy,” began the cat as its yellow eyes pierced through the darkness, “it is your mind- _heart_ , if you will. I think you can.” The cat closed its eyes and the honey like yellow stones disappeared. “Guess I can give you a push in the right direction,” they said as Jisung heard the softest of paws drag against the ground, over voicing the silence. 

Withdrawing like a wave at sore the darkness suddenly went away, revealing a familiar sight as birds began chirping. Grass in a rich color of green and different flowers covered the ground, showing the way to the passage of trees that would lead anyone who walked it to a wall that reached beyond the horizon. 

Taking in the wonderful scents of fresh flowers, Jisung took a deep breath as he felt the soft grass under his bare feet. He looked up ahead and nodded to himself before beginning to walk towards the forest. Jisung smiled as a pleasant breeze brushed his cheeks. 

Stopping just before the passage’s opening, Jisung turned to look over his shoulder. He wanted to thank the cat for helping him, but as he looked towards the green grass field he saw no cat. It was gone and Jisung felt sort of bad for not getting to say his thanks. Sighing, Jisung turned back to the passage, and lifting his right foot, he stepped into the forest. 

And then he fell through the ground.

...

Soft, Jisung was laying on something soft as he slowly came to again.

“...ello, ar…yu…kay?” said a muffled voice, but Jisung didn’t hear what they had said. All he knew was that someone was speaking to him, but there was something else too. A tingling feeling to his left palm drew his attention and, eyes remaining closed, Jisung focused on it. 

_Circles,_ he thought as he recognized the thing that was drawing the shapes to be a finger, carefully drawing circles in his palm. A pleasant and caring gesture that had a soothing effect which Jisung couldn’t help but to find nice. 

Taking a deep breath through his nose, he felt himself fully come back to reality. 

And then, releasing the air from his lungs, Jisung opened his eyes. 

_Freckles?_

“Oh!- Changbin!” exclaimed the freckled boy, looking up at his friend who was holding something in his arms. Jisung, wondering what Changbin was holding, squinted his eyes to get a better focus. He hadn’t registered it until now, but his legs were held up and when he realized it was his legs the boy was holding, Jisung’s eyes widened.

“Hey-!” he said and pulled his legs out of the boy’s hold. Then, pushing himself up into a sitting position, his back against the wall, Jisung sent him a bewildered look which Changbin mirrored, before jumping off the bed.

“Relax!” he complained and went to stand next to his friend, nodding his head down at the boy. “Felix told me to raise your legs so that brain of yours wouldn’t rot from lack of blood.” The other boy showed Jisung an awkward smile before turning to Changbin who looked pleased with his comment.

Jisung scoffed at the boy’s comment, but lastly, decided to not follow up on it. He was stuck on the name Changbin had called his friend. _Felix,_ repeated in his mind and he looked at the fair haired boy sitting on the edge of his bed. He just had to ask or else it would bug him until he was back in heaven. 

The two boys spoke in mumbles, Changbin speaking at a more rapid speed than the other, his expression turned worrisome, sending Jisung a look of suspicion as he bit his lower lip. 

But paying no mind to the boy’s looks, Jisung looked away and down at the bedsheets.

“ _Felix,_ ” he mumbled to no one in particular. He just wanted to test it, feel how it rolled on the tongue. But the freckled boy must have heard him, because he hummed at the call of his name and shifted his attention back to Jisung. 

“That’s me,” he answered in a deep voice as he let go of Jisung’s hand, standing up. He glanced at Changbin before looking back at Jisung. “And you’re Han Jisung, the new kid,” he said shortly, and before Jisung could ever reply, the boy’s expression shifted and guilt spread like wildfire across his face. His eyes turned glossy, and for a moment, Jisung thought the boy was going to burst into tears.

But rather than crying, the boy, _Felix_ , put one knee down on the bed and took both of Jisung’s hand into his, bowing his head as low as he could. Then taking a deep breath, the boy parted his lips.

“I am so, so, sorry!” he cried out as he squeezed Jisung’s hands. “I shouldn’t have done what I did- I-I thought I could help, so I tried to pull on the broken parts, but then you began crying and then passed out and I-” Changbin patted Felix in the shoulder, making him release Jisung’s hands and get off the bed again.

“I think he gets the gist of it,” Changbin told his freckled friend and bent down to his ear. “Also…” he whispered, and the look of suspicion he sent Jisung was an obvious sign of Changbin’s uneasiness.

Felix suddenly let out a low giggle as he looked at Jisung. He could feel Changbin’s gaze bore into him like a hawk eyeing its prey. It made the hairs on his neck rise as he looked to the other.

“No, no, I think it’s fine actually,” Felix insisted as he smiled at Jisung. “He would have been all over me by now, but see-” he quickly gestured with both hands to all of himself before showing Jisung another excited smile, “-nothing.”

From the corner of his eye, Jisung thought he saw Changbin grimace at him, but when he looked up at the boy, his expression had returned back to its normal intimidating state. 

“But really, Jisung. I am so sorry,” Felix apologized yet again, and Jisung looked over at the fair haired boy who’s expression showed pure guilt. His eyebrows were drawn together, creating a sad crease in his brow. “I got so worried and when I felt all _that_ ,” he pointed to Jisung’s left chest pec, “I thought I could help, but…”

“No, i-it’s fine,” Jisung told him, pushing himself further up his bed, fixing his sitting position to a more comfortable one. “But…” he began but quickly shut his mouth. He felt hesitant to say what was on his mind. Still, he knew he had to get it out. 

Sighing, Jisung let his gaze fall onto the mattress as he picked on the sheets. “Could you, like, not do that again? Like- I don’t know _what_ you did but, it really sucked,” he mumbled just loud enough for Felix, who stood closest, to hear.

Or maybe he hadn’t, he realized when a loud chortle suddenly came from behind Felix and Changbin stepped forward. His eyes burned red and Jisung thought he saw flames. 

“You don't see this everyday,” he said in a teasing tone, looking over at Felix. “You do something to him?” Changbin asked as he dropped onto the bed, almost landing on Jisung’s legs, had he not moved them. 

“Okay, I know we had a rather _interesting_ first meeting, but…” Changbin averted his eyes and glanced down at the sheets. “Oh- woops,” he said and moved over a bit, giving Jisung space to have his legs. 

Jisung didn't even get time to thank the boy as he released a dragged out sigh, and cringing, Changbin held out his hand. 

Jisung had little to no idea what kind of person Changbin was, he felt like apologizing was something the boy had a hard time with, seeing as he was literally cringing at himself.

“I guess I overdid it a bit, judging by your nose,” he scrunched his nose as if showing he felt sorry. “Still, I don’t think there needs to be any bad blood between us,” he said, jerking his head towards his hand, urging Jisung to take it, “I’m sorry?”

Taking a moment to think it over, Jisung finally reached out his right hand and accepted the apology in silence, nodding as they shook. 

As soon as Jisung had let go of Changbin’s hand, the boy’s body language did a complete turnaround and he suddenly relaxed his shoulders, letting them drop from a tense position Jisung hadn’t even noticed they were in.

“Is something the matter?” He asked the dark haired boy who was fiddling with his shirt, looking like he wanted to say something. But when he decided to remain quiet, Jisung turned to Felix and sent him a confused look. He just shrugged as he let out a low chuckle.

“No, it’s just,” Felix let out another chuckle. “Well, I think anyone would feel bad if they made someone look like _that,_ ” he said, pointing to Jisung’s nose, and leaning forward he carefully grazed the tip of his nose. “Does it hurt?” he asked, withdrawing his hand when Jisung flinched at the touch. 

“A bit,” he winced and brought his hand up to his nose to feel around it. There was something crusty just above his upper lip, and when brought his hand back down his eyes went wide at the scraps of red that stuck to his fingers. _Blood?_ He thought and looked at Felix who watched him with an awkward smile. 

“I’ll get tissues,” he said shortly and hurried into the bathroom, leaving Changbin and Jisung to sit in awkward silence as both of them avoided the other’s gaze. The only sound filling the silent dorm being the running water coming from the tap.

After what felt like hours, Felix came back with one hand full of wet toilet paper and an entire roll of toilet paper in the other. “Here you go-” he said but was suddenly interrupted when a set of gentle knocks came from the door, making the three of them turn to look towards it. 

“ _Hello?_ ” asked a soft familiar voice as they pushed the door open and a woman with short brown hair which Jisung recognized to be Claudia, slowly entered the room holding a red tray in her hands. “Are you alright? The door was unlocked so…” she must have lost her train of thoughts when she noticed the two other boys, her eyes darting around the room before landing back on them again “Changbin? Felix? What are you doing here?” she asked, her tone holding a bit of authority.

Moving away from Felix, Jisung pushed himself to the edge of the bed and set his feet to the floor. “They were just…” he began but quickly turned silent when Claudia let out a surprised gasp.

“What happened!” she hurriedly asked as she put the tray on his desk, before walking over to the three of them, almost tripping on the folded book _The supernatural phenomena_ Jisung had most likely let fall to the floor when he passed out the first time. 

She clicked her tongue as slightly bent down to look at his face. “I should have brought ice…” she muttered as she turned to Changbin, giving him a questioning look, and Changbin raised his brow as he let out an offended scoff.

“You really think?- Oh why yes, Claudia, we came here to beat up the new kid, what else could we possibly be doing?” he loudly announced in an extremely sarcastic tone, getting off the bed. 

Claudia sighed and appeared to not find the boy’s comment to be amusing, but rather, she looked hurt by the accusation. “You know that is not what I meant,” she began, but Changbin shifted his attention to Felix instead. He went over to the fair haired boy, took his hand. 

“C’mon, we got class,” he said, pulling Felix into a walk. 

“Class? Changbin it’s like six pm, we don’t-” Felix tried, but was cut off by his friend who suddenly shoved his hand into his pocket. When Changbin found what he had searched for, he went over to the desk and held up the object in his hand for Jisung to behold.

“We found this outside your dorm, figured it was yours since you’re not wearing a cross,” he said matter-of-factly and headed for the door. 

But just before they left, Felix managed to stop Changbin, and turning around he showed Jisung a big bright smile. “You should come eat with us in the cafeteria sometime.” Felix didn’t wait for Jisung to answer as he grabbed the door handle, “it’s nice to have company while eating,” he said, ending his invitation with a kind smile as he, with a gentle hand, closed the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felix has entered chat and GOD I JUST WANT TO SPOIL EVERYTHING !!  
> Felix is such a precious bean, and his smile? Pure sunshine I tell you! Holding Jisung’s hand and drawing small circles so that he would wake up? Wholesome!  
> Felix inviting Jisung to eat with them? Amazing! 
> 
> Lol, and then we have Changbin... HE CARES I PROMISE, he's not as bad as he pretends to be. He’s just... well, you’ll see later ;)
> 
> ah ha, this was a wack chapter, don't ya think? Welp you better be ready for more cuz the wackness has just begun // sweats like a bacon strip 
> 
> Kudos, comments and feedback is always appreciated ~


	7. A Bloody Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Except for the phone in his hand, his pockets were empty.
> 
> They weren’t supposed to be empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god. It's so freaking scary to post a new chapter. Big oof right there I tell ya.  
> Ah ha... ha... I've looked through the text so many times I'm going blind. So if you find any major mistakes don't feel bad for pointing them out. // puts on clown makeup because that is exacly what i am :)))  
> Isn't it funny how I said I would keep to a schedule and update every week, which turned to every other week, and now this? HILARIOUS AM I RIGHT ?? HAHA I really have no excuse this time for the late update and I’m genuinely sorry.  
> School’s been a stick up me arse and that ain’t cool. Oof
> 
> [3/1 - Edited a mistaken that was at the end of the chapter]  
> Hope you like the chapter tho. You’re meeting a new character~  
> Now hop on Jisung’s “train of misfortune” and let us goo! Cho cho muther fukers

Dragging a hand through his hair, Jisung sighed when he realized it was still a bit damp. He’d had to hurry to get dressed when he realized he was late for lunch, so there hadn't been much time for him to dry it off completely.

“Ah…” He exhaled and watched how his breath turn to white smoke as it left his mouth. Whether it was just chilly or so cold one’s fingers would go numb, Jisung couldn't tell anymore. Looking like he was going for a midnight walk during the summer and autumn, even his choice of clothing which only consisted of a simple black t-shirt and jeans made it almost too obvious that the cold could not pierce his skin.

But figuring it was pretty cold since his breath was coming out a smoke, and since he wasn’t planning on looking like a spiky hedgehog just so Minho could come up with some stupid remark about it once he got to the cafeteria, Jisung patted his damp hair down. It was enough that Minho had called him an oblivious quokka, he wasn't going to just give the guy the satisfaction to come up with some other stupid joke. 

Jisung must have slept for at least four hours and would have probably slept through the whole night and missed out on lunch, had he not gotten several short texts from a number he’d never seen before, telling him to _wake up!_ and _you’ll miss Jin’s amazing spaghetti bolognese!_

He put a hand to his stomach when it growled at the thought of food. The sandwiches Claudia had brought to his dorm were long since digested and he was hungry again. 

A faint smile pulled on the corner of his mouth as he whispered a silent _thanks_ to whoever it was that had woken him up.

For a moment, even though he was hungry, Jisung remained standing on the staircase outside the dorm, taking in his surroundings. He turned to his right, looking beyond dormitory A and towards the tall silhouettes surrounding the school. The tall pine trees reached high and cast great dark shadows over both themselves and the ground, making them appear as if they were above all. They were like walls going around the whole school. Protecting them from whatever could pose a threat. 

_Or isolate them from the world_ , Jisung found himself thinking.

Taking his fully charged phone out of his pocket Jisung read the four numbers displayed on the screen. _23:19_ he read in his mind as he turned on the camera flash and pointed it down towards the ground. Claudia wasn't accompanying him to the cafeteria this time, and while he was fairly sure how to get there, the absence of light was making it difficult to navigate where to go. 

He went down the few stone steps that made up the staircase leading to the dormitory's entry and began walking, phone slightly tilted downwards, lighting up the stone path.

The low rhythm of his shoes meeting the ground as he walked was the only sound present at the moment. Still, he wasn’t surprised by the lack of life in the trees. No birds were up this late, and if they were, Jisung knew of no reason for them to be. 

Being out at night was rather calming, and even if he would have preferred having Claudia walk with him, Jisung felt okay. He thought the wind hitting his face was rather refreshing, even if he couldn't feel its biting cold.

Small pebbles clanked against each other like music and as he walked, Jisung looked up at the white specks of light illuminating the dark grey-blue sky. They reminded him of Felix's freckles, scattered here and there to make up constellations. 

_Pretty,_ he thought as he stopped his walk to continue looking up at the stars. 

As he stood there, Jisung couldn't help but wonder if his guardian angel, just like the moon being obscured by the grey clouds, was watching over him from somewhere far, far away, keeping an eye on him were he to try something foolish again.

At that moment, Jisung decided to make a promise to himself, the night sky being his witness. _I won’t try anything reckless again,_ he said in his mind, _I promise_. 

He slowly breathed out, turning the warm air in his lungs into smoke as he parted his lips. “I’ll be patient,” he whispered, and finally looking away from the stars and back onto the ground, Jisung nodded to himself and picked up his walk again. 

_I'll be patient._

... 

A high pitched _ping_ suddenly rang out of nowhere, and Jisung, startled by the sudden noise, shut his eyes and instinctively jerked his arm to protect himself. The sudden movement of his arm had caused his phone to fly out of his hand, and he winced when the tragic sound of glass meeting stone reached his ears.

Jisung opened his eyes and looked down at the ground, the flash blinding him as he bent down to pick the phone up. It was too dark to be able to tell whether it was broken, and Jisung wasn’t very keen on dragging his hand across the screen and risk getting cut just to check for cracks.

“Lucky me…” he sighed and turned off the flash before putting it in his pocket. He didn’t need it to light up the way anymore, the light coming from the windows of the cafeteria was a familiar sight and could guide him.

As he got closer, Jisung saw a faint shadow of someone hurrying past one of the windows. The person, which he guessed was Jin, looked to be carrying a tray. What was on it though, Jisung didn’t manage to see.

Seeing the cafeteria made Jisung think of the texts he’d received mentioning food. Stomach suddenly letting out a loud gurgle had him pick up the pace of his steps, creating small clouds of temporary smoke as he approached the door.

Reaching out to push the door open, Jisung stopped mid action and let out a surprised sound when something soft suddenly grazed his leg.

He was quick to withdraw his hand and step away from the door, thinking only of one thing that could be this soft and standing by his feet. 

Or more specifically. Who.

Letting his gaze travel to the ground, Jisung smiled when he realized he’d been correct. Light grey fur tinted with ochre and dark spots stood now by his feet, looking up at him with curious yellow eyes. 

“Well hello there.” Crouching down to get on the animal's level he held out his hand so that it could sniff it. He didn’t want to scare it away, even if it had during their first meeting showed that it was accustomed to humans. 

The cat gladly sniffed his hand before pushing up against it, a silent gesture that told him that he was allowed to pet it. Jisung chortled at the cat’s insisting look when it met his eyes. “Alright, alright,” he said, pretending to complain as he reached for its head. 

He scratched its cheeks, making it purr as he continued his way up to scratch it between the ears. “ _That good?_ ” he cooed, and suddenly taking notice of how his tone had gone a pitch higher, Jisung cringed at himself.

Afraid someone might see him acting like some giggling boy, Jisung stopped, removing his hand off the soft grey spotted fur. But as he did, the cat suddenly began to meow loudly, looking up at him with insistent eyes.

“Sorry...” he mumbled as he looked down at the cat. “You really like getting petted, don’t you?” 

The cat, meeting Jisung’s eyes as if it was aware it had his attention, began to purr again as it moved its head up and down, almost as if it was nodding a _yes_ to his question. 

Jisung looked at it with surprised eyes. He had never seen a cat nod in response to a question before. But then again, thinking back to the dream he had when he passed out. He had seen the very same cat and it had talked too. 

He stared into the cat’s eyes. Perhaps this cat had really been in his dream. He eyed the animal. Maybe it too was at the school because it had possession of supernatural powers.

_But what could you be_ ? Jisung wondered as he rubbed the back of his neck. _You look like a cat, act like one too…_

He moved his hand down from his neck and to his chin, scratching it as he thought. “What had he called me again…” Jisung mumbled to himself as he tried to remember Minho’s comment.

_Ah, right…_ Jisung glanced over his shoulder and towards the dark forest. He did a quick sweep of his surroundings before turning back to the cat, parting his lips.

“A _shapeshifting_ quokka…” He met the cat’s yellow eyes. “Are you one?” he asked and tilted his head in a curious gesture but quickly turned flustered, shaking his head before correcting himself. “A shapeshifter I mean, not a quokka.”

The cat only stared back at him, its yellow eyes brighter than the light coming from the cafeteria windows. Its ears suddenly twitched, only slightly, but still, it was some sort of reaction and Jisung felt like he had hit the jackpot. 

“Wa-no way! Y-you understand me?” he asked, not even trying to hide his excitement in his voice. 

The cat closed its eyes and once again, nodded. Then, glancing up at Jisung, the cat opened its mouth. 

“ _Hello, my friend,”_ said a low and articulate voice, causing Jisung to let out a gasp of surprise as he looked at the cat with wide eyes. 

“Woah! d-did you just-” he leaned forward and towards the animal, “-speak?” He leaned in a bit more and held one hand to his mouth, covering it as if he was about to tell a secret. “Does that mean you're some kind of shapeshifter?” he asked, leaning back to give the cat some space.

_“Unfortunately I don’t think she will be shifting anytime soon, my friend,”_ said the same voice and Jisung just stared at the cat.

_She?_ Jisung eyed the cat. He was sure the cat’s voice was that of a male though. It had talked, he had clearly heard it, yet oddly enough its mouth had not moved an inch. “Then _how…_?” Jisung quickly tore his eyes off the cat and onto the grey stone path in front of him. 

It didn’t take long for him to notice the long and slender shadow cast over the stone, stretching tall like the pine trees surrounding the school, covering both him and the cat with its long shadow, its yellow eyes no longer reflecting the light coming from the cafeteria windows, looking dull. 

“Ahem.” 

The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped Jisung back to reality. He choked on air, and feeling like his heart held its breath, Jisung swung to look over his shoulder.

A tall and very slender man, similar in height to the headmistress entered Jisung’s field of view. He couldn’t get a clear image of the man, the backlit light casting a dark veil over his face, hindering him from seeing it, so reading the man’s expression was impossible.

Jisung felt his ears go red with embarrassment as he hastily got up on his feet, feeling ridiculous from having been caught speaking with a cat. “Um- I-I didn’t-”

The tall man chuckled and put his hands into his vest’s pockets, moving slightly to the side to look at the cat. “I suppose it would be rather amusing if Dot here, kept being a shifter of shapes for so long,” the man said and turned to Jisung, “don’t you?” 

Jisung glanced down at the cat. It was watching them with its big eyes, probably wondering what they were conversing about. “Um… well, I-I suppose so?” He finally managed to crack out, and thankfully the man seemed satisfied with his answer.

“Indeed…” he whispered and looked over at the cafeteria entrance. “I assume you are here to eat?” The man tilted his head and gave Jisung a searching look. A dark shadow of a crease between the man’s brow appeared, startling Jisung so that he had to step back, wincing when he almost stepped on the cat. 

The man hummed, “I am afraid to say, but I do not recall having seen you around the campus.” The man looked at Jisung who quickly avoided the man’s eyes. “Well, I assume you are the new student who was supposed to attend my history lecture, earlier this evening, but, according to Claudia, said student had to rest due to personal reasons. Correct?” 

Jisung nodded again as the man took his right hand out of his vest’s pocket, holding it out to him. “My name is Nicolai Quinn. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintances, Han Jisung.” 

“Ah- y-yes,” Jisung stammered, accepting the man’s hand, “you too.” 

Nicolai let go of Jisung’s hand. “Fascinating. You have been _there_ , haven't you?” he asked as he turned to look at the building, finally allowing light to illuminate his face. 

Old. Nicolai looked incredibly old. The grey-brown hair and several white strands, combined with skin wrinkled of age told a story of a long life, yet the gleam in his eyes and straight posture begged to differ.

“Well, as much as I would love to hear about your journeys,” he looked over at the building. “Food is waiting.” Nicolai turned and took a couple of steps towards the cafeteria door, opening it with a fluid motion. “After you.” 

“T-thank you…” Jisung muttered and hurried inside.

... 

“Nicolai!” Jin called out as he came out from the open kitchen door. He removed the kitchen towel hanging from his belt and dried off his hands as he headed over to them. “Ha! I knew it. Even _you_ can’t refuse my famous spaghetti bolognese,” he joked and patted Nicolai on the shoulder. 

“Good evening, my friend,” Nicolai greeted, but quickly interrupted himself at the shake of his own arm, bringing it up to display a clock that was probably as old as Nicolai himself. “Or should I say good early morning?” Nicolai raised one brow, looking rather funny as he sent Jin a crooked smile.

It didn’t take long before Jin’s chuckle turned into high pitched laughter, sounding almost like the windshields of the car Jisung’s uncle had borrowed. 

“Good one!” Jin said once he had gathered himself and took a step back. “You eating here?” 

Nicolai straightened his posture. “Unfortunately I will not. I'm just passing by since I still have some matters to attend to, so a container would be very much appreciated, thank you,” 

“Alright then. Give me a second and I’ll go get it for you,” Jin said and hurried into the kitchen. But before the door could close behind him, Jin poked his head out and sent Jisung a smile. “I got yours in the kitchen, I’ll just fix Nicolai’s food and then I’ll bring it out, okay?” Jisung nodded where he stood beside the tall history teacher. 

“Great!” Jin smiled and disappeared into the kitchen.

Nicolai turned to look across the cafeteria, his eyes landing on the lone boy sitting at the only table without its chairs flipped onto it. 

“Good early morning Minho,” he said, sending the vampire a greeting nod. 

Minho took his lips off the straw, making the thick red liquid slowly travel back into the styrofoam cup. “Morning,” was all he said before returning his attention back to the cup in his hand.

Nicolai’s eyes lingered in Minho’s direction as he stood in silence, looking deep in thought.

Moments later he parted his lips. “ _I think…_ ” he said quietly as he turned to face Jisung, an unexpected softness in his eyes. “I think it is a good thing that you are here, Han Jisung. Minho has been the only student in this class for some time now, and while I cannot speak for him,” he briefly glanced over at the boy sitting all by himself, ”I suspect it’s been rather boring,” he turned to meet Jisung’s eyes, “I hope the two of you will get along.” 

Jisung didn’t say anything and just let his eyes travel over to the boy. Minho was watching them, the straw back in his mouth. When their eyes met Jisung was quick to break eye contact, dropping his gaze to the floor.

“Hm…” Nicolai hummed when the sound of the kitchen door swinging open announced that Jin had returned

“Here you go.” Jin smiled as he handed over a plastic container to the man. “Also,” he held out a fork and knife wrapped in a white serviette.

“Thank you,” Nicolai thanked his colleague as he straightened his posture, and turning his head he looked at Jisung. “I hope to be seeing you in class next Monday evening.” 

Not wanting to meet the man’s eyes, Jisung simply averted his as he answered with a silent nod. A gesture that could easily be mistaken as him being afraid or frightened, but really, were Nicolai to do something like attack him, Jisung was pretty sure something as simple as a punch would make the ancient looking man fall into a casket. 

No, it wasn’t fear Jisung felt for the man. It was uncertainty. He wasn’t really sure why, but whenever he met the man’s eyes he felt like he was being read like an open book, and were Jisung to decide, he’d rather stay untouched on that shelf collecting dust until his angel returned to take him back.

“Very well. I wish you all a…” He paused for a moment, and when a faint smile grazed the man’s lips he spoke again, “a continued good _early morning_.” 

Then, walking over to the door and pushing it open, Nicolai left. 

Jin was smiling at him when he lifted his gaze off the floor. “Don’t look so scared!” he said as he placed a hand on Jisung's shoulder. “Sure, Nicolai’s a little strange, I’ll give you that but,” Jin looked over at the door Nicolai had just left through. “I thought so too when I first started working here, but now?” He lowered his voice into a whisper. “Okay maybe I still think he’s a little strange.” Jin laughed, “but trust me, the stories he can tell you? It’s no wonder he’s such a great history teacher.”

Jin moved his hand off Jisung’s shoulder, moving it to his back instead, giving him a friendly pat. “Plus, he got some good jokes up his _vest_.” Jin chuckled at his own joke as he gave Jisung’s back another pat before moving his hand away. 

“Well, hope you’re hungry. Today’s menu is-” Jin did a dramatic hand gesture, “-my famous _spaghetti bolognese!_ ” he announced loudly before taking a step back towards the kitchen door. He jerked his head over at the nicely stacked plates, “go get one and I’ll get your food.” 

Jisung felt a smile pull on the corner of his lips as he answered the tall man with an eager nod.

Even if this was only their second time meeting, Jisung felt at ease when in Jin’s presence. The cook had this friendly and laid back feel to him, and he liked that about him. 

_Unlike others…_ Jisung thought as he walked up to the stacked plates. He could feel Minho’s eyes digging into him like knives, making the hairs on his neck rise. 

“God, what’s his problem…” he muttered to himself as he took a fork and knife from the plastic containers, the metal clanking against each other as he held them in his hands.

“Alrighty!” Jin announced, and Jisung went over to the cook holding two metal containers. “This one here is the spaghetti and this one’s the sauce,” Jin told him as he held up the containers one after the other. Then, placing the two down onto the empty salad bar he removed the lids to uncover delicious looking foods. “Take as much as you want,” he said after placing a pasta server and soup ladle into the corresponding container. 

“Thank you,” Jisung thanked and gave the man a genuine smile. A rarity that has surprisingly become more common during the past two days he’d been at the school, and most likely caused by Jin’s contagious smiles. 

Jisung didn’t care for the stare Minho was giving him as he seated himself at the opposite end of the table, his plate filled with delicious spaghetti. He was probably jealous of Jisung who was able to eat actual food, instead of drinking some dead person’s blood from a styrofoam cup. 

Sticking the fork into the pile of spaghetti, Jisung twisted it, creating a small ball of yummy pasta. He brought the fork to his mouth, opening wide to shove the whole thing in. 

Just as he was about to take his first bite, a loud _ping_ rang out from his pocket, startling him so that he missed his mouth and got some sauce on his nose instead. 

Jisung felt his cheeks flush when he tried to calm himself, but failed when he caught Minho watching him. The small curls in the corner of his mouth made it blatantly obvious the vampire was holding back his laughter, and Jisung felt his cheeks flush even more.

It had been his own phone that had startled him, making it even more embarrassing that he reacted as he did, and he cursed under his breath as his hands traveled down to his pockets. The search for his phone was brief, the rectangular shape easy to find, but as he pulled the phone out of his pocket, Jisung’s heart stopped.

Lightly going over his pockets with his hands, Jisung felt the color drain from his face when he found nothing in his pockets.

_Please no, no…_ Jisung begged in his mind. Except for the phone in his hand, his pockets were empty. 

They weren’t supposed to be _empty_. 

_No…_ Jisung’s palms had gone sweaty and he could feel his heart beat hard behind his ribs. He swallowed hard, wondering if Minho could hear the loud beat of his heart.

_Impossible. There’s no way he would be able to tell…_ Jisung convinced himself as he sneaked a quick glance at the boy. When Jisung met Minho’s cold stare, he froze up, quickly realizing his position. 

The styrofoam cup wasn’t in his hand anymore, Jisung taking all of the vampire's attention. Minho was staring straight at him. _Prey. He’s looking at me like I’m prey,_ Jisung thought as an array of _pings_ coming from his phone startled him back into function. 

Phone still in his hand, Jisung glanced down at the bright screen, feeling Minho’s intense stare pricking his skin like needles. 

There was a small crack at one of the upper corners, but he couldn't care less, the name of the sender being the issue. However, Jisung didn’t have time to get angry at his uncle either, Minho was his biggest problem right now. He could get angry at his uncle later. _But right now,_ he thought and the words of the headmistress suddenly began to go on repeat in his mind. 

_Hell. I’ll go to hell if he bites me._

Jisung looked down at his plate, his heartbeat loud like drums in his ears. He had to get away from the vampire and it had to be fast. He couldn't risk getting bit by Minho just because he’d been careless enough to forget something as simple as putting garlic into his pockets. 

The door to the kitchen suddenly opened but Jisung paid no mind to it, the bright red liquid staining the edge of the white plate claiming all of his attention. _Looks like flowers_ were the few words he managed to think before the sound of chairs clattering made it to his ears, and like a cannonball being fired straight into his chest, Jisung was tackled out of his chair. 

Jisung shut his eyes on instinct when his back slammed straight onto the hard floor and the air in his lungs got knocked out, but quickly forced them to open to face his attacker. 

There was no trace of emotion in Minho’s dark eyes when he stared into Jisung’s, his humanity consumed by the thirst of his blood. _He is going to bite me_ , Jisung thought and he cried out in panic. 

Like handcuffs, Minho’s hands were clasped around his wrists, painfully pushing them to the floor to restrain him from fighting back. He sat straddled over his stomach, keeping him down. 

“ _No! No-stop!_ ” Jisung screamed as he tried kicking with his feet, but the struggle was pointless. Minho was incredibly strong, overpowering Jisung without even breaking a sweat. 

The hold around his wrists tightened and Minho parted his lips to reveal two knife-sharp fangs. 

“ _No_ ,” Jisung desperately whispered. _I can't go to hell- no, no, no!_

Minho bent down, and with his tongue, licked the blood off Jisung’s upper lip, paralyzing him with fear. 

His whole body was screaming, desperate to get the vampire off him, and as the fear of being bitten took control, Jisung prepared himself to use everything he had to get Minho off him.

He found his window of escape when he felt the grip around his wrists loosen, and he didn't hesitate to take it.

“Get off me!” he yelled and tore his arms out of his grip. Minho was still sitting straddled over him, but at least Jisung’s hands were free. He could work with that.

The vampire’s eyes went wide as he looked down at him.

Just as Jisung was about to push the boy off the sound of rushed footsteps coming towards them made him hesitate. 

“ _Minho_! Get off him now!” a voice yelled, but Minho was already off him, standing on all fours and gagging like he was about to throw up.

It was Jin who had come running out from the kitchen and was now standing by Jisung’s side.

Using his elbows, Jisung pushed himself away from the sick looking vampire to look up at Jin. 

The cook wore a stern, yet worried expression on his face as he held out his arm towards the other boy, hand made into a fist.

Jisung's eyes traveled from the man’s face and over to the silver chain in his hand. It was swaying from side to side, a silver cross dangling at the very end. The chain was broken and he guessed Jin had torn it straight off his neck.

He shifted his gaze over to the sick-looking Minho before looking back to Jin.

Something wasn't right. There was no way Jin had been able to get to them in time. Jisung was practically just about to get bit when Jin got to them and adding in Minho’s incredible speed, there was no way.

_But then, how?_

Still supporting himself on his elbows, Jisung returned his attention to Minho and the sight made his eyes go wide.

Minho, a _vampire_ , was spitting blood mixed with saliva onto the floor, looking paler than normal. “The fuck-” Minho hissed, turning his head to send Jisung a look of pure disgust. “What the hell- what’s wrong with you!” Minho brought one hand to his mouth, violently drying it off while his other arm served as support for his sudden weak state. “Your blood- fuck! It tastes like shit.” 

He spat again, losing his balance in the process. Jin hurried over to him and managed to catch him before he hit the floor, crouching down beside him. 

“Minho?” Jin gently stroked his back but got no response. “ _Shit…_ ” he cursed, wrapping one arm around him. 

Once Jin had a good grip around the boy, he pulled Minho up and brought one of his arms over own shoulder. For a moment, the cook looked to be considering something, his brow drawn down and creasing in the middle.

Then, after swiftly glancing over at Jisung, Jin turned as much as he could and looked towards the kitchen.

“ _Felix_!” Jin suddenly shouted towards the closed kitchen door. 

Within seconds the door swung open and out came the freckled boy. He wore a big bright smile, but upon seeing the mess before him, the smile faded and his eyes went wide with panic.

Felix rushed over to them and dropped to his knees beside Jisung. “Oh my god, are you okay?” he asked as he pulled on the long sleeve of his white shirt. He brought it to Jisung’s bleeding nose and held it there as he looked over his shoulder, eyes panning between Jin and Minho. “W-what happened?”

The cook looked down at the snow pale Minho who was leaning on him. He was sweating and breathing heavily as he struggled to stand on his own.

Jin looked at Felix with a worried frown. “I don’t know, I’ll have to bring him to Alldyn,” he said, meeting Jisung’s eyes, “you alright?” 

Jisung nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah I’m fine,” he quickly told him before breaking eye contact.

Jin’s brow drew down, making a worrisome expression as his eyes moved to the fair haired boy. “I’ll leave him to you,” he told him, and Felix, still holding his sleeve to Jisung’s nose, answered with such a hurried nod that his hand on Jisung’s nose moved, making him wince. 

“Ah,” Felix stilled his hand. “Sorry.” 

“Good,” Jin said and sent the two of them a reassuring smile before pulling Minho closer to him. He shoved his free hand into his pocket and took out his phone, his thumb swiftly going over the screen. “I’ll give Claudia a call, so you two just stay here for now.” Felix nodded again, this time not as much, and Jin brought the phone to his ear.

…

Finally removing his sleeve Felix scooted over, giving Jisung enough space to push himself up from his elbow and into a sitting position. Then, remembering Claudia’s advice from earlier, Jisung quickly brought one hand to his bleeding nose and pinched down at the end of the bone.

As he sat there on the floor, hand on his nose, Jisung’s eyes traveled over to the mess before him. Both his and Minho’s chairs had fallen over, looking like they were watching the ceiling, the table slightly moved from its original spot. But what was most disappointing was the sad pile of spaghetti laying on the floor next to broken white pieces once made up a whole plate. 

“Are you okay?” The fair haired boy asked as he moved closer, eyes open wide and attentive. “Oh my god! Did he bite you?” Felix panicked and hurried to cup Jisung’s face, searching as he tilted his head to expose his neck. 

“He didn’t…” Jisung mumbled and pushed the boy’s hands off him. A gesture that could be interpreted as rude and ungrateful, but instead of being offended by Jisung, Felix just let out a breath of relief, and a smile formed on his lips. 

“Gosh!” He whined and playfully smacked Jisung on the shoulder, and he looked at the boy in confusion.

“What?” He asked, meeting his eyes. They looked glossy, and Jisung seriously thought the guy was going to cry.

“Y-you scared me!” he said, breaking eye contact when he dropped his gaze to the bloodied sleeve. He picked on it, pursuing his lips like a pouting child and Jisung peered his eyes at the boy. 

He realized Felix's lips weren't pursed for the sake of sulking, but rather, he was muttering to himself as he furrowed his brow.

Once he finished his muttering with the floor, he looked back at Jisung. “Why?” he asked and Jisung just stared at him.

“Why what?” 

“Why didn’t he bite you?” Felix asked as he scooted closer, “you were bleeding- you _are_ bleeding-” he pulled on his sleeve again and wiped off some blood that had managed to escape and was trailing down Jisung’s lip, “-but...” Felix withdrew his hand and waved his hands in the air when Jisung sent him a confused look. “Ah! Don’t get me wrong, it’s good you weren’t bitten, but why?” 

_Why…_ Jisung thought and moved Felix's hand off him again. “I don’t…”

Felix emitted a low hum and Jisung turned to look at him, meeting a pair of misty eyes and eyebrows turned up in a sad expression. “Did you want to…” he began, but quickly closed his mouth, becoming seemingly hesitant to finish his question. He looked down on the bloodied sleeve, picking on it.

After a moment, he sighed and finally parted his lips again, “you know… did you want to get bit?” Felix finally asked.

“Wha-” Jisung’s eyes went wide and he shot up to his feet. “N-no! Never, I would never!” he told the boy sitting on the floor. “ _Never_.”

Felix got up from the floor, no longer looking sad, but determined. “You promise?” 

“Yes!” He quickly answered, causing Felix to flinch when he raised his voice. 

“Good,” he said, words accompanied by a faint nervous smile, and Felix scratched the back of his neck. “It’s still bleeding…” He pointed towards Jisung’s face, or more specifically, his nose.

Jisung brought his other hand to his nose, feeling that there was still fresh blood dripping from it. “It will probably stop soon so I think it’s fine.”

Felix’s mouth dropped and he suddenly looked offended. “It’s fine? Fine!” He held out both hands, stopping Jisung from talking back. “Nope! I’m getting you some paper,” he announced, and turning on his heel, Felix hurried into the kitchen. 

But just before disappearing behind the door, Jisung managed to take notice of a small bow tied just above his waist. Jisung squinted his eyes, wondering why the boy was wearing an apron. 

Now that he was thinking about it, why was Felix even in the cafeteria at all? It was way past any of the regular students' time, and Jisung guessed most of the students were fast asleep already. So how come Felix was in the kitchen, fetching paper for his bleeding nose? 

Jisung pinched down harder on his nose and let out a tired sigh. He dragged himself over to his fallen chair, and not bothering with the pasta just bent down and helped it back up on its four metal legs. “What a mess…” he muttered and wiped off blood traveling over his lip before dropping down on the chair. 

Slumping against the backrest, Jisung pulled out his phone and turned on the screen. He had no problem navigating the phone using one hand and swiped away the notifications displaying his uncle’s name. 

With a blank gaze, Jisung just stared at the white numbers reading _00:36_ . He read the number a few times to himself until the six changed into a seven and the screen turned black. He pressed the small button and the screen lit up again. “Saturday, twenty-first…” Jisung read and looked over at the kitchen door, sinking further into the seat. _What a goddamn mess._

His second day at the school had turned out to be a big, if not bigger, mess as his first day. 

Jisung scoffed and turned away from the door and looked towards Minho’s chair. It was still laying on the floor, watching the ceiling together with the styrofoam cup that had apparently also tipped over. There was some blood left in the straw and Jisung suddenly tasted iron. He cringed and felt around with his hand over his lip, wiping the blood off his mouth once he found it. 

A clattering sound of a door opening had Jisung turn back to the kitchen. Felix had returned and was walking with hurried steps, a whole roll of paper in his hands. Jisung felt a smile pull on his lips as he couldn’t help but to find the sight ridiculous, but also kind.

Felix huffed a dramatic complaint and pulled out the chair beside Jisung, plopping down on it. 

“A friend of mine told me that he used to get nosebleeds from time to time, stress you know…,” Felix picked on the roll. “He said that he would use whole rolls of paper to stop the bleeding. So,” he held the roll of paper.

Felix beamed at him with a bright smile that reminded him of sunshine when he reached out to take the roll, and Jisung, unable to withstand the want to answer with one of his own, did just that. 

It was a faint, but genuine smile that he showed Felix when he looked at him. “Thanks.”

Jisung rolled out a few squares and tried folding them using his one free hand. But it was hard and he struggled for a bit until he let a frustrated sound escape his lips. The sound of giggles coming from Felix had him feeling even more flustered and giving up, Jisung held out the wrinkled paper towards the boy. 

“ _Some help please,_ ” he muttered, his voice slightly nasal like from pinching his nose. 

Felix chortled and pushed up the sleeves of his shirt before taking the paper from his hand.

Jisung watched as Felix folded the paper, only now taking notice of the white bandaids going around a few of his fingers. He guessed that Felix had just recently put them on, looking brand new from the smooth, undisturbed edges. 

He continued to watch Felix’s hands. They were rather small and looked tiny in comparison to his own, and Jisung found this discovery kind of funny. Because, while Felix’s whole demeanor was all friendly and caring, his hands even keeping to the theme. His voice on the other hand was the complete opposite with its low and almost rough sounding tone. 

As his eyes continued to linger on Felix's small hands, following the white bandaids as the boy hummed to himself something else caught his attention, and Jisung, curious to see what it was, squinted his eyes to get a better look.

While his left hand looked almost untouched, the skin on Felix’s right hand had lines of scarred tissue running across the knuckles, the pigment a slight pinkish shade. Eyes wandering further up Felix’s exposed forearm, he saw a couple there too which were much less visible than the ones on his hand. 

Jisung couldn't help but wonder what had happened to make such visible scarring. He glanced at his forearm again. _An accident maybe? Or perhaps intentional…_

“Here,” Felix said as he held out the paper, pulling Jisung from his thoughts. 

“Ah- thanks…” He thanked and quickly brought the paper to his nose, awkwardly shoving it up his nose. Once he felt like the paper was blocking the blood from escaping, he eased the pressure on his nose, taking a few seconds before letting go completely. 

Felix let out a sigh of relief and leaned into the chair, his sleeves rolled down again. “Okay, now that that’s solved…” he trailed off and before Jisung knew it the boy was off the chair and standing, his eyes wide in panic. “The brownies!” he yelled and looked at Jisung as if he’d just been told the worst news in his life. 

“The what?” 

“The brownies! _Brownies_ !” Felix stressed as if Jisung too, should be panicking. He held out both hands, stopping him from following up with another question. “You!” he pointed at him with both hands, “stay here! I’ll be back before you can say _shrimp on a barbie!_ ” 

The apron around Felix’s waist swung around as he did, and before Jisung could even ask the boy what _shrimp on a barbie_ even meant, he had disappeared behind the kitchen door.

“Shrimp on a… _barbie?_ ” Jisung mumbled as he dropped his gaze to his thighs, the rectangular shape in his pocket drawing his attention. “The hell does that mean?” 

He eased the phone out from his pocket and turned on the screen, again, the cracked upper corner not the issue. A single notification with his Uncle’s name received three minutes ago was the only thing on his screen. Jisung didn't open the message, only reading the few words displayed on his screen. _Sorry, I know it’s late over there but…_

“ _Sorry this, sorry that…_ I'll just open it later…” he lied and turned off the screen, putting it face down on the table. He was tired of it all, the endless emotional exhaustion and misfortune he’d had to experience ever since walking up that day in that stupid hospital. 

Jisung let out a dragged out sigh as he leaned into the chair. He let his arms lifelessly dangle off the chair beside him as he thought of his only blessing. _White wings and polished pointed shoes._

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “ _Hey mister Guardian Angel, hurry up would you?”_ he wished in a whisper before opening his eyes again.

The sound of a door opening made him gasp as his eyes went wide. It hadn’t come from the direction of the kitchen, but from the cafeteria’s entrance. 

Jisung’s heart skipped a beat as he quickly rose from his chair, a big smile spreading across his lips. _No way!_

He couldn’t see him quite clearly, the harsh shadow turning him into a silhouette, but Jisung didn't need to see his face to know.

Butterflies filled his stomach and suddenly every inconvenience that had happened to him this very night seemed so, so very insignificant. He just wanted to sprint over to the man and hug him; ask him if he had talked to God yet.

_Of course he has,_ Jisung thought as he stepped towards his angel, the tingling feeling in his chest a pleasant warmth he hasn’t felt in a while.

“I’ve mi-”

“Oh,” suddenly interrupted a low voice, and when Jisung swung around to see Felix standing by the kitchen door, holding a baking tray with a pair of beige potholders, his heart dropped.

Panic exploded when his heart reached the very depth of his being, and yet, for some reason, Jisung’s body wouldn't move. He had to do something, come up with a lie, a reasonable excuse for why an angel was standing at the entrance to the cafeteria.

“Um- t-this is, um,” he stammered, and body finally obeying his commands, Jisung held his hands up to stop Felix from rushing to assumptions. 

The freckles on Felix’s cheeks puffed up and his eyes crinkled as a smile formed on his lips. 

“Alldyn?” He asked and took a step forward, stopping to look down at the tray in his hands. “Ah- wait. Just give me a sec.” 

Jisung couldn’t, nor wanted to turn around, the name _Alldyn_ repeating in his mind as he stood frozen in place.

Instead, he just watched as Felix hurried into the kitchen to drop off the freshly baked brownies. Their eyes met again as he came back out holding the potholders under one arm. “They're still a bit hot, but feel free to take one once they’ve cooled off.” Felix smiled and then turned to Jisung who knew he must be looking like a fool. “You alright?” the freckled boy asked and got up beside Jisung, eyebrows drawn together with worry.

“I’m fine…” he answered, but of course it was an obvious lie, he’d been disappointed for mistaking the headmistress for his guardian angel, and he had to fight against the frown pulling on his lips.

After a moment, when Jisung felt like he’d had enough time to gather himself, he turned around to face the headmistress.

For each step the heel of her boots made a clean and sharp sound as she slowly made her way closer. “Thank you, Felix,” she said, eyes traveling over to Jisung. “Though tempting, today I will have to decline your offer.”

Her eyes finally moved off him and he released a quiet breath he didn't even realize he was holding. 

“I suppose I wasn’t the one you were expecting,” the woman said as a faint smile graced her lips. She pulled at her long coat, and crossing her arms over her chest, looked towards the table where Jisung and Minho had sat, the lone chair laying on the floor earning itself a raised eyebrow from the headmistress herself. "It seems that…” she began, turning back to Jisung with a searching look, “a lot of _unexpected_ things happened today.” 

Jisung dropped his gaze, swallowing hard at the piercing stare of the woman.

“I met Jin on my way out,” she explained, looking away from Jisung and over at Felix. “Do you have much left to do in the kitchen or are you finished baking for today?”

Felix reached behind his back and swiftly undid the bow with one pull, then, folding the apron he hung it over his left arm. “There are still some dishes I gotta clean, but except that-” 

“Good,” Alldyn interrupted flatly and began to unbuckle her coat’s belt, swiftly taking it off to reveal a black turtleneck and brown knitted cardigan, and hanging her coat over her arm she looked to Jisung. “You two can go, I’ll clean this up.” 

Jisung just stared at the woman while Felix’s eyes went wide. “A-are you sure? I mean,” he took a step forward, “I can help you if you want.” 

The headmistress held out a hand, stopping Felix from coming closer. “It _is_ ;” she told him and faintly smiled. “While I clean this up, I need you to accompany Jisung back to his dorm in case something happens.” 

Felix nodded without hesitation. “Yes, of course! Just give me a minute to put the brownies in a box and we’ll be off,” he said and hurried into the kitchen.

“Ah…” the headmistress sighed, making Jisung look up at her. She had reached behind her neck and was fumbling around with something, and when she got it off, Jisung realized what it was. 

In Alldyn’s hand laid a silver chain and cross, the ceiling lamps reflecting on the necklace's shiny surface. “Here, take this for now,” she said, moving her hand closer to him.

Jisung took a step back, “um… I don’t…” he began and met her eyes. “W-what about you then? If I take this, you won’t have one.” 

Alldyn lowered her hand and smiled before bringing her other hand up to one of her earrings, putting her palm behind it so Jisung could see it better. 

“These owls are of silver and have crosses designed into them,” she told him and pulled up the sleeve of the cardigan, “I’m also wearing a silver bracelet with two other crosses.” She held out the necklace again, urging Jisung to take it. “Situations like these are the sole reason for why I wear this.”

“I’m not really sure I need it though…” Jisung tried and took a small step back, letting his gaze fall to the floor. He really didn’t want to wear it, the cross too much of a reminder of the place he wanted to return to. 

Still, telling the woman of his reasons was not something Jisung wanted, nor felt like she needed to know. He glanced up at her, _should I push it?_

As if having heard his thoughts, Alldyn suddenly reached for Jisung’s hand and brought it up. Her smile was gone and she sent him a serious look before placing the silver cross in his hand. “As the headmistress of this school I am not _asking you,_ I am _telling_ you.” She closed his hand and let it go, “keep it.” 

Jisung wanted to talk back to the woman, tell her that he could just get two new garlic cloves from the kitchen. Yet his mouth stayed closed, as well as his hand.

A set of quick and clumsy footsteps could be heard coming for the kitchen, and moments later appeared a smiling Felix wearing a white puffy jacket. In his arms were two transparent plastic containers stacked on top of each other, filled with freshly baked brownies.

“All done!” he called out and walked over to where they stood. He looked at the headmistress and bowned. “Thanks again, Alldyn,” Felix smiled before turning to Jisung who stood with his right hand made into a fist, cross cutting into his hand. 

“Um…” Felix sent him a wondering look before looking over his shoulder, clearly looking for something. He turned back to Jisung, his eyebrows drawn together. “Where’s your jacket?”

“I don’t have one.” Jisung was quick to answer the question. He’d been asked that question so many times now that, really, he didn’t have to think twice before answering it.

“Oh.” Felix walked up beside him as he pulled the door open. “But it’s pretty cold you know.”

“Yeah. I know…” 

Jisung stepped outside and, as Felix followed close behind him, took a deep breath to suppress the pull of a frown. _S_ _adly though, I can’t feel it anymore._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, when will Han's streak of misfortune end? GOOD QUESTION  
> Imagen the panic though, you're eating spaghetti when all of a suddenly get a text that scares the shit out of you and then WAM! no garlic to protect you. Must be rough :(((  
> And Han's phone. That's a big oof. lets hope he has a screen protection  
> But those brownies tho, bet they're delicious since Felix made them. :))) Gosh I love Felix. He's such a cute bean! Wonder what happened to his right hand though? Hmm...
> 
> Then there's Nicolai, the old man who looks so old he might as well be sleeping in a coffin from now on. Well at least he has some jokes (even if they aren't good) / hahhahaa  
> once again, sorry for the late update  
> Kudos, comments and feedback are always appreciated ~

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, feedback and kudos are always appreciated :)


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